Dogs beach ban plan anger
GEELONG council is preparing to pull a choke chain on coastal dog owners, with a series of new restrictions to include a blanket ban of four-legged friends from Ocean Grove’s main beach.
Councillors will tomorrow vote on a recommendation to approve a series of new dog controls to the area covered by the Barwon Coast Committee of Management — from Breamlea to Collendina.
The tighter controls come despite a deluge of feedback to the proposed changes, with a majority from more than 450 dog owners arguing they would be too restrictive.
GEELONG council is preparing to pull a choke chain on coastal dog owners, with a series of new restrictions to include a blanket ban of four-legged friends from Ocean Grove’s main beach.
Councillors will tomorrow vote on a recommendation to approve a series of new dog controls to the area covered by the Barwon Coast Committee of Management (BCCM) — from Breamlea to Collendina.
The tighter controls come despite a deluge of feedback to the proposed changes, with a majority from more than 450 dog owners arguing the proposed clamps would be too restrictive.
The city received almost 600 responses during a sixweek community consultation period in September, which followed a high number of reported incidents in the area — including 27 dog attacks in the first six months of 2019.
The community input shaped recommended alterations to four of the five sections facing new controls.
The only order set to remain the same is the move to prohibit dogs from the Ocean Grove main beach — currently a conditional off-leash area — and creating an off-beach “walk-through pathway”.
The beach ban comes despite a majority (56.9 per cent) of public responses disagreeing with the move.
“Destroying community lifestyle, absolutely and without question,” one response claimed. “Do you realise how many people walk between Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads as a routine daily walk with their pets, saying hello to all the other folk they interact with on a daily basis. This will be gone, with the tick of a pen.”
But others argued the Ocean Grove main beach was the best and safest choice for families, particularly with children who may be afraid of poorly-controlled dogs.
The current proposed changes include:
DOGS to be on-lead on 13th Beach (40W-36W) any time horses are present, similar to hooded plover orders adopted by the city for the area between Collendina and Pt Lonsdale. RESTRICTED access east of 13th Beach ( 36W- 34W), with off- lead dog access allowed from 7pm- 9am daily, all year. RESTRICTED access on the east and west banks of Barwon River (27W-16W), with dogs allowed on-lead from 7pm-9am December to April, and off-lead access from May to November.
DOGS banned from Ocean Grove main beach all year.
SEASONAL off-lead access proposed for Collendina Beach (7W-8W).
The city received 63 complaints about dog-related incidents on BCCM land in 2017/18, including 10 dog attacks, 23 menacing dogs and 30 dogs “at large/off-leash in on-leash areas”.
Federation University was commissioned by BCCM to identify the challenges faced by beach users between Breamlea and Collendina before council’s decision to alter dog controls in the area.
“Unwanted attention by dogs off-leash” was the most common concern raised in the research.