Please do not allow the minority to control the majority. 

Responsible dog owners across the Central Coast have a wide and supportive community that kept them going during lockdown, has helped ease newcomers into the area and seen lifelong friendships forged. Responsible dog owners pick up other dogs’ poo on the beach and ovals as well as litter from holidaymakers, they make the beaches and ovals cleaner.

In response to your Dogs in Open Spaces Action Plan, the Central Coast Responsible Dog Ownership community request the following:

1. Please consider not introducing this policy until we have elected Councillors in place otherwise the community have no voice. Council should consider a community elected responsible dog ownership group to monitor complaints and issues from within the community.

2. If this is strategic and for future planning, then the following strategic needs must be considered:

-          Off leash grass and beach areas for active dogs to prevent our dogs becoming a nuisance and complaints being made to Council.

-          Size and length of areas need to be planned in terms of current dog ownership and projected dog ownership.

-          Off Leash and on leash areas should be within 15 minutes walking distance of people’s homes, not everyone drives. 

-          Dog attacks are more prevalent on streets and in FOLAs making OLAs a majority option. Safety for people and animals is paramount.

3. Timed access is not a majority option for the following reasons:

-          People are shift workers and can’t get to the beach before 9am or after 5pm.

-          People time their visits to the beach according to the weather, kids in school and the tide being out amongst other things.

-          Having a concentration of dogs at limited times could increase the number of attacks.

-          The caravan park at Umina has recently approved stays for pets. Should visitors lock up their animals between 9 and 5pm in the summer in a tent?

4. Ovals to be designated off leash areas when the ovals are not being used which is 75% of the time. 

Other Councils do:

-          Dogs like both grass and sand and often socialise better when on grass. These informal groups police their groups, including picking up dog poo and socialising new dogs.

-          They are a community resource and dogs playing do not significantly impact the area.

-          Many elderly people cannot walk on sand and grass is their only option and the dogs their only companions and access to community. They comprise 30% of our community.

-          Provide poo bags at ovals and at regular intervals on beaches to enable dog poo to be more easily picked up. And provide bins on the beach all year round.

5. Hire more Rangers to actively police problems such as registration, desexing, dogs off leash on streets, escaped dogs, picking up dog poo. The Central Coast has only 8 Rangers, covering 1,680km and has the highest number of dog attacks in NSW. More Rangers = more revenue = less cost for Council.

Please do not allow the minority to control the majority.