One of the supporters of this petition spoke with the Manager of the Inner West Council Parks department recently. Here was his feedback:

• Yeo Park and Gough Reserve Management Plan was done up in 2018 (can be found searching on Google). And they have considered dog off lead, but it was considered not appropriate.
• He was resistant to the idea, but happy to take forward any petition to the governance committee.
• Key reasons for resistance is potential damage to grass, and cost if fencing is required.
• Between Yeo Park and Gough Reserve, land around the school is owned by the Department of Education, and the council has a use and sharing arrangement which may further complicate the issue.

Some of us feel that:

• Since 2018, the number of dog owners in the area has increased significantly. The 2018 plan does not reflect this and does not best serve the community and demographics.
• Yeo Park is often fairly empty on weekday mornings and afternoons. It would be a shame to not allow that time to serve dogs and their owners. 
• Yeo Park is a large park. Damage to the grass can be mitigated if a large enough area is allocated. Examples of this can be seen in HJ Mahoney Park (Marrickville) and McNeilly Park (Marrickville), both of which have timed off-lead areas an are still lush and grassy with no little to no damage. 
• This is obviously not the case at Johnson Park, however it could be argued that this is a direct result of the lack of off-leash areas available in the Ashfield Ward - Johnson is one of two dedicated areas and is thus very heavily used. 
• Quite frankly, dog owners already use Yeo Park for off-leash play and the park is still as beautiful as it always was. It is, of course, possible for the grass to become damaged if more dogs were to use Yeo Park, but there has been little effect on the grass thus far with the current level of off-leash play.

Feel free to share your thoughts.