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Auckland Council’s proposed changes to the dog policy and bylaws is causing controversy even before it’s opened for public consultation.
The Dog Policy and Dog Management Bylaw have not been reviewed since 2019 though Council staff say they hope there will be annual reviews in the future. Regulatory and safety committee chair Josephine Bartley said the proposed changes are backed by robust data and feedback.
“On the Hibiscus Coast, there are proposals to update some of the rules at Shakespear Regional Park. It is recommended that east of the Army Bay boat ramp, and east of Okoramai Bay to the open sanctuary fence become dog-free areas. Your dog’s bark can be just as strong as it’s bite to our native wildlife, and we are lucky to have a lot of wildlife that call Shakespear home. That is why we’re recommending this change.
“The park also gets busy during summer, so we are also recommending the open grass area between Army Bay and Okoromai Bay becomes an on-leash area from 10am-5pm from December 1 to March 1,” Bartley said.
Though Bartley said that the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board “is also recommending that parts of Big Manly Beach and Tindalls Beach become on-leash areas to help protect the endangered birds that nest in these areas”, the discussion at this month’s board meeting was to the contrary.
Board members challenged council staff on the evidence for the rule changes proposed for Hibiscus Coast beaches, but weren’t able to get a satisfactory response despite some of these questions being put to staff in October when they last presented to the board.
The board also took issue with the lack of clarity on how changes to the dog access rules could be submitted, how those submissions would be evaluated, and what evidence threshold had to be met to change the rules.
Board chair Alexis Poppelbaum said the topic would have benefited from a workshop where the board could have addressesd queries and feedback, though that opportunity is now lost given the timing.
“We need to ensure this process is more agile going forward as local board areas are growing really fast. We can’t wait years for changes to be considered though we appreciate the legislative requirements involved,” Poppelbaum said.
Auckland-wide, Council has also proposed changes to the dog policy and bylaw including:
Updating where dogs can and cannot go at 14 of Auckland’s regional parks.
Setting limits on the number of dogs that can be walked at once.
Making the policy and bylaw easier to understand by clarifying some of the existing rules, such as requirements to neuter dogs classified as menacing, including those that have been relocated from outside Auckland.
Bartley said that these changes follow a thorough review of data by council staff. This includes preliminary feedback from a public survey in March this year, showing the common issues for Aucklanders are owners not picking up after their dog, packs of dogs taking up pathways, and dogs wandering off-leash in an on-leash area.
A council statement said that staff analysed statistics from animal management service requests, multiple dog ownership licences, registrations, and the animal management annual report. They also reviewed Auckland data from the National Survey of Dog Attacks, dog control statistics and Accident Compensation Corporation’s dog related claims.
“This level of due diligence is vital when recommending changes to policies and bylaws, as these are the rules we will all live by if adopted,” Bartley said.
Council’s analysis of complaints data found most dog-related complaints were about dog access rules not being followed. The local board picked up on this as the key issue, challenging the regulatory team to consider the value of increasing rules when existing rules were unable to be enforced due to staffing constraints.
Board member Gregg Walden said it all goes back to the one pivotal point that the council needs to get right – compliance enforcement.
