Dog owners granted more off-leash areas

LOCAL dog owners now have 21 extra places to exercise their pets off-leash.

This comes after the new Dog Controls in Public Places Policy was recently adopted by the City of Greater Geelong Council.

The policy increases the number of reserves and open spaces designated as “off-leash supervised areas” from 18 to 39, adding to the 43 sporting reserves also available.

Complementing these changes, the City plans to allocate more resources to education of dog owners and enforcement of rules, as well as installing extra signage and waste bins around the region. Additional resources will be subject to future budget processes.

The changes are designed to promote responsible pet ownership and safety in public places for all users.

They’re in line with feedback gathered during a detailed community consultation process. This included a four-week feedback period in May/June, which attracted 469 responses, and a further six-week window between September 15 and November 3, drawing another 122 responses.

Bellarine councillor Jim Mason said there was quite a diversity of opinion from the community during the development of the policy, so the City officers had done a good job achieving a centre point between the needs of both dog owners and non-dog owners.

“We’ve increased the number of off-leash areas by 150 per cent, but it’s important to note that off leash still means a dog needs to be under effective control,” Cr Mason said.

“The community also expressed a desire for more signage and education, and this will be very important in the successful implementation of this new policy.”

Other changes to the previous policy include:
• Dogs to be kept a minimum of 10 metres away from turf cricket wickets
• Dogs must not enter sports playing surfaces during organised matches/competition
• Dogs not allowed within 10 metres of children’s playground equipment
• All equestrian centres to be on-leash at all times.

The policy applies only to Council-managed lands.

Separate policies are in place for dogs on other lands, for example, coastline on the Bellarine managed by coastal committees.