Dogs could be excluded from all beaches or time restricted in peak season
Central Coast Council is flagging that dogs could be excluded from all sand dunes and patrolled beaches and that access to beach off leash areas could be restricted at popular beaches.
The ideas are contained in the Council’s draft Dogs In Public Space Action Plan (DIOSAP) which goes to the Council-under-administration meeting of June 28 to get permission to go out on public exhibition for comment.
The document says non-compliance of dog control regulations by some dog owners has led to a community divide when it comes to dogs.
“This includes significant frustration by dog owners who abide by leash requirements and are generally considerate of other users of open space,” the council report said.
Research showed that community frustration with owners who let their dogs off the leash in on-leash areas comes second only to frustration with owners who do not pick up their dog’s “litter”.
Frustrations related to dogs being off leash on residential footpaths and in parks and reserves along with owners who do not control their dogs and who let their dogs approach people or other dogs; and ill-mannered or aggressive dog owners.
“As the above responses are primarily from dog owners, it could be expected that there would be a higher level of grievance in the wider community,” Council said.
Council quoted a Deakin University study which said that non-compliant visiting dog owners were found to have a lower sense of responsibility towards local wildlife than local dog owners.
The study suggests banning dogs from some sites because of the high level of non-compliance and the low level of enforcement by regulatory authorities.
Feedback from National Parks and Council staff identified a significant level of non-compliance with dog control regulations in National Parks forest and foreshore areas.
Poor control of dogs and a lack of regard for other beach users has attracted a particularly high level of complaint from residents which indicates ongoing frustration with this behaviour on the Central Coast, the report said.
“Of particular note is the frequency of dogs being on and off-leash in patrolled swimming areas. In order to minimise conflict on popular foreshore areas, many Local Government Areas have introduced access restrictions during peak usage times, particularly during summer,” Council said.
“As part of the implementation of this Action Plan Council will consider the introduction of seasonal restrictions for dogs to popular beaches.”
Dogs could be restricted to beach access from sunrise to 9am and from 7pm to sunset during peak summertime.
Council says the access to a number of foreshore off leash areas (OLAs) are challenging.
Wamberal foreshore was particularly problematic because direct access is limited to a pathway off Surfers Road – a narrow residential road with no car park access.
The only other access directly to the off leash area is via parkland allotments 25-25B on Ocean View Drive.
“Opportunities to create a small number of car parking bays in this site can be investigated as part of the implementation of the policy,” Council said.
“Options will need to consider the cost-benefit of any proposed works and environmental impacts to the site and surrounding area.”
The only access for the Killcare Beach off leash area is via the north-east end of the Beach Drive car park.
“Many dog owners use the car parks along Putty Beach Road to access the Killcare Beach OLA which means they are taking dogs on to foreshore areas where they are not permitted,” Council said.
“Consideration should be given to signage at these car parks that includes a map that clearly defines the OLA and dog exclusion zones.”
Council has identified five off leash sites it wants to decommission.
It wants to change the boundaries of another 10 and it has identified 12 potential off leash areas to bring the total to 68.
Poorly trained dogs put people off using off leash areas
Council wants to minimise the use of fencing around off leash areas.
Survey respondents who supported fencing did so because they are not confident:
their dogs won’t run off their dog will obey recall commands their dog won’t run into other parkland activities and/or concern other people.Council said research also found that:
fenced off-leash areas (FOLAs), unless very large are used by only a small percentage of dog owners on a regular basis (only 11 per cent used a FOLA once a day or more) over 60% of respondents indicated they had stopped using FOLAs because of:# the presence of aggressive dogs (71% of respondents)
# owners who do not actively supervise their dogs (69% of respondents)
# poorly behaved/trained dogs (68% of respondents)
# inadequate enforcement of dog control requirements (61% of respondents).
Council’s draft plan suggests that existing FOLAs will remain fenced apart from the Colongra Bay Reserve where it is recommended that the fence be removed and landscape and sensory features appealing to dogs be incorporated.
“Each of the FOLAs on the Central Coast, apart from the Tuggerah Facility, are undersized and therefore have become degraded, Council says.
“In addition, they do not contain any sensory elements necessary to help manage dog activity or provide stimulation, nor are the sites particularly inviting.
“It is not practical to replant grass surfaces in existing FOLAs as they will again degrade.”
The report says that if fencing is to be retained, a more durable surface is required.
Council to define ”effective control” of a dog
The NSW Companion Animal Act requires dog owners to keep their dog under ‘effective control’ but does not provide any criteria that defines the meaning of ‘effective control’.
Council says some Local Government Areas are now implementing local policy that clearly defines the term, particularly in terms of measurable criteria such as dog responsiveness to recall, the distance between owner and dog, and sight lines between owner and dog.
Council is suggesting that dogs can only be off the leash – in an off leash area – if they always immediately respond to the owner’s voice and/or hand commands.
Council’s draft plan proposes that dogs must remain:
within 100 m of their owner or guardian within clear sight of their owner or guardianDogs must not:
run or rush at another dog or person make unwanted approaches to another dog or person be allowed into a ‘dog exclusion’ area.Council says off leash areas are not provided to contain dogs that owners cannot or will not control.
“These dogs should not be off the leash in public places,” Council says.
Ranger numbers fell following amalgamation
The former Wyong council had eight full time equivalent positions working on dog related issues.
Central Coast Council, an amalgamation of the former Wyong and Gosford councils, now has the same number of full time equivalent positions for the expanded local Government area, according to the plan.
# Attending to reports and complaints such as dog attacks accounts for 50% of Ranger time;
# Attending to barking dog complaints 20% and
# Attending to roaming dogs and complaints and incidents of dogs off-leash in on-leash areas approximately 30% of Ranger time.
This leaves no time for proactive monitoring of off leash areas or on-leash areas for compliance with regulations, says the report.
“The team is struggling to address matters relating to complaints and has not had the capacity to proactively monitor or engage with the community for more than two years,” the report says.
Dogs – how many on the coast
The council says there are 65,000 dogs on the coast.
The State Government says 146,751 dogs are microchipped on the Central Coast.
Who is correct?
Council says the lifetime animal registration fee levied by the NSW State Government, as opposed to an annual registration fee, means deceased and relocated pets are not identifiable from database records.
“As a result, dogs registered in 1988 remain on the NSW Government database even though they are deceased,” Council said.
“This makes it difficult to determine the number of dogs that are on the database and living on the Central Coast.”
Council says there are 55,257 dogs on the database from 2008 and, with an average lifespan of 11 or 12 years, that too could be an overestimation.
But then it has to account for unregistered dogs.
“According to Animal Medicines Australia (AMA) the ‘owned’ dog population in Australia … is likely to be significantly higher than is reflected on registration data bases around the country,” Council says.
“AMA research and information suggests there are likely to be over 65,000 dogs residing in Central Coast households.”
This is at least 10,000 more dogs than registration estimates.
Council says If estimations are applied to future household numbers, dog numbers on the Central Coast could be in excess of 80,000 by 2032.
The future
Council’s draft plan talks about the Principles that will guide the planning of the policy in the future.
Council says that dog owners must:
▪ understand that some people do not want to interact with dogs, do not like dogs or are fearful of dogs
It says dog owners must prevent their dogs from:
– making any unsolicited approach to other dogs or people
– approaching wildlife and/or interfering with wildlife habitats
– and remove poorly behaving dogs from the public environment.
▪ understand and comply with relevant council and State Government regulations relating to the control of their dog, leashing of dogs and picking up of dog litter.
People who do not want to interact with dogs:
▪ must not make an unsolicited approach to dogs or allow children in their care to do likewise
▪ must not encourage dogs to approach them or incite dogs to be aggressive
▪ should become familiar with the location of off-leash areas and consider alternative open space options for their outdoor activities.
“People should expect to use public places and know that they, and/or their dogs, will not be approached uninvited by dogs,” the draft policy states.
##Gold star if you read all these stories: have you thought about addressing Council on the issue? You can address the June 28 meeting. Email me if you need more information. cccouncilwatch@gmail.com
We oppose closures on Wamberal beach. Yours sincerely Anthony D Lamont and Carol J Lamont
I walk my dog down on ocean beach and have done for many many years… Most people do the right thing by picking up after them and keeping them under control it’s just some people who couldn’t give a RATS…. I firmly believe that if RANGERS where seen often down the beach this wouldn’t be a problem…. I haven’t seen a ranger down the beach at all for many many years so show urself talk to people get to know who the idiots are… This excuses by council there time is spent by barking dogs 🐕 that’s crap.. This is why we have police to go to homes.. I’ve never.. never seen them at the beach in regards to that issue… I really do find this a simple solution by getting the rangers out of there cars and do some interaction with people on the beach……. People who come down the beach know the rules like anywhere else if there’s no policing people take advantage…. It’s not rocket science… 🤔🧐🤓😡🇦🇺
in years gone by there were many more areas where dogs off leash could run with their owner. Many of these areas were away from areas frequented heavily by the general public and there was less conflict . the present council have many beach off leash areas situated where the general public congregate thus increasing the chance of complaints.
On the sunshine coast many big coastal areas are designated for dog use in the early morning and late afternoon and this seems to work for everyone.