As unfortunate as it was for the child to get knocked down, not once but twice, I find it hard to believe it even warrants consideration to ban dogs from beaches. Kids get knocked over by accident from household pets every day, get up, dust themselves down and don't annoy the rest of the community by complaining to the town.

As a responsible dog owner I use the West Beach every day in all weather. The majority of the time it is very quiet and only gets used by dog walkers and joggers. I firmly believe that the police and community wardens would have far more productive things to do than police an empty beach in the winter months. Regardless of a ban, I will still be exercising my dogs there, along with most other regulars.

On another dog-related matter, I would like to comment on the dog fouling which occurs on the West Beach, and a fairly inexpensive solution. The majority of dog owners like myself do clean up after our animals and place our bag of business in the bin, in the car park.

However, many owners halfway down the path don't particularly like carrying a bag of dog faeces for miles. Would it be too sensible to place a dog bin along the path by the golf course where the drainage pipe spills onto the beach? There is a good gravel road that council vans have used before when they have to pick up the large amounts of rubbish left by picnickers; maybe stick a regular rubbish bin there at the same time!

Also, I would like to thank the Moray Council for spending valuable time and money in providing Findhorn with a speed bump. I'm sure it will cut down on the number of people getting knocked down and sometimes even killed on that notorious and deadly section of road.

Maybe the council could spend some money on Lossiemouth's Queen Street and have that resurfaced before all our cars and buses get shaken apart, or do we have to wait for a local councillor to move there first?

Lossiemouth is by far one of the best places I have lived, with beautiful beaches, friendly people, good bars and eateries, harbours and esplanade, a great community spirit with the raft race and forthcoming Christmas lights festival. There are not many towns around that can boast so many qualities, yet if the do-gooders have their way the town will soon be bombarded with laws which are not workable.

It was bad enough not being able to have a beer and watch the raft race without having the local friendly police officer pointing you back to the pub door.

I'm sure the Christmas lights ceremony will be the usual success. The police and community wardens do an excellent job year after year. Let's hope they can turn a blind eye to the 30-year-old adult with the sneaky hip flask. – Yours etc,

A. Fraser, Lossiemouth.

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