‘Dogging site’ near cafe to be looked at by police
OWNER COMPLAINS ABOUT MEN HAVING SEX IN WOODS JUST YARDS FROM HER PREMISES
CALDERDALE Council has confirmed its officers will be investigating a cafe owner’s concerns about a ‘dogging site’ yards from her business.
The council issued a statement to The Examiner following concerns raised last week by Sharon Wherrett, co-owner of the Big Baps cafe on Wakefield Road, just off junction 25 of the M62, near Brighouse.
Sharon, 51, said that her cafe has been blighted by ‘male doggers’ having sex with each other just yards away.
She says that so many men visit the site for sex that the lay-by is too full for her customers to pull in.
Sharon has also complained about the amount of waste left at the site, including used condoms, condom wrappers, and other ‘sex litter.’
Calderdale Council and West Yorkshire Police have confirmed that their officers will be taking a look at the concerns raised.
Councillor Jane Scullion, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategy, said: “Of course, we take all concerns from residents and businesses seriously, and we are investigating these in relation to Wakefield Road, Brighouse, as well as contacting the cafe owner.
“We will work with the police and other partner organisations to address the concerns.”
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “It has been passed to the NPT (Neighbourhood Policing Team) to look into.”
A Kirklees Council spokesman confirmed that the location was within the Calderdale district and not part of Kirklees.
Sharon, who co-owns the cafe with her sister, Amanda Bissett, claimed last week that she had repeatedly raised the issue to her local MP and the police, said that the issue has persisted to the point where she now needs to warn people who go walking in the local area.
On Sunday, two men at the site defended the right of men to park at the lay-by and engage in sex acts in the woods.
A man from Mirfield, who was sitting in his car in the layby, said the Big Baps cafe owners were ‘selfish’ to think that the layby was for cafe customers only.
“This lay-by is for everybody, not just her customers.
“The lay-by was here years before she came. It is not just for truckers but for everybody.”
He dismissed the idea that the area was for ‘dogging’ – the practice of watching or engaging in exhibitionist sexual activity in a public place. “It’s not dogging here. It’s men meeting men for sex, for totally anonymous sex.”
Asked about complaints of naked men in the woods, he said: “Possibly, sometimes they are not discrete.”
He said the location was a popular gay haunt for men from Manchester and Leeds.
A man from Leeds, who was walking into the woods, said that men enjoyed meeting up there. “It’s fun,” he said.
We take all concerns from residents and businesses seriously