Lake Macquarie dog off-leash areas: council approves 10-year plan to manage dogs in public spaces

The 10-year strategy puts forward 10 new off-leash dog areas, removes the current on-leash area at Redhead Beach and redefines boundaries of the off-leash area at Thomas H Halton Park.

Almost 230 submissions were received on the strategy, the majority against the changes at Redhead and Croudace Bay.

While it's hard to keep all sides of the community happy, Cr Bryan Adamthwaite said he hopes the decision made on Monday night is a start.

"We're responsible for a balancing act and we're balancing the views and needs of people in the community who own dogs and who love their dogs against the people who don't have dogs or like playing in parks with children or going to barbecues," he said.

"I hope that people will embrace this."

According to the council, removing the on-leash area at Redhead Beach will provide a "more appropriate" balance of beach use, eliminate conflict and open up a larger area of the beach for people without dogs.

Pooches will also be excluded from the sand dunes off-leash in an effort to rehabilitate the beach.

The community raised a number of issues with the changes, arguing they limit the amount of space available for dogs at the beach and will compound parking and traffic problems around Cain Street.

Under the plan, the length of beach available to exercise dogs off-leash remains the same, with access at Second Creek through the Ken and Audrey Track and Cain Street.

The council said dog owners will still be able to park near the surf club and walk to the off-leash area through Webb Park.

Mayor Kay Fraser acknowledged councillors have received a number of emails from community members concerned about the strategy.

"Being a dog owner I understand the passion of our residents, most of which are responsible pet owners," she said.

"But this will help eliminate that conflict ... we need to make sure our residents and dogs are safe.

"It's important for us to be able to share these spaces and make sure all users have access to the same area."

Lake Macquarie has one of the highest dog ownership rates in the state, with more than 92,000 registered dogs.

At Croudace Bay, the strategy outlines timed off-leash areas and excludes pups from the northern end of Thomas H Halton park, including the barbecue area, bat-ball court and shared pathway next to the playground.

Locals said in submissions that the changes mean they won't be able to complete a circuit walk with their dogs and that requiring older people and those with a disability to put their dogs on a lead on two sections of the path would be an issue.

In response the council plans to undertake a 12-month review of the strategy, educate the community on local dog-training opportunities, ban dogs from the sand dunes off-leash at Redhead and change the name of Hampton Street Reserve at Carey Bay to 'Puntei Park' in the strategy.

The council ran two rounds of community engagement and a testing phase of the proposal before it was approved.

For more information about the strategy visit the council's website.

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