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Your input into this process is welcome and encouraged. Council is seeking community input into this process to understand your opinion on this subject and the issues involved.
The consultation process will involve three stages;
1. Survey & Guestbook: The Survey ends on 24 March 2013
Please take the time to fill out the survey below. This will take about 10 minutes. This survey will provide the main information on community opinion provided to Council, to form their decisions on potential direction on dog exclusion areas in sportsgrounds. Your survey can not be viewed by anyone else using this web page.
You may also take the opportunity to make comments in the Guestbook below if you choose. Your comments on the guestbook can be viewed by other people, and allow other users of this website a chance to understand the range of opinions on this subject.
Please note that, unlike the survey, these comments can not be quantified. Therefore they will not contribute significantly on the data passed onto Councillors.
2. Steering Committee Workshop:
Council seeks to form a Steering Committee from a maximum of 10 community representatives. The aim is to have representatives with a cross section of view points on this subject.
This committee will undertake a workshop to develop a preferred approach. This workshop is planned for Wednesday 27 March. To express interest in this steering committee, please forward your details to the contact below. Expressions of interest for the workshop must be recieved by Monday 18 March 2013.
With the results of the survey and input from the workshop Council staff will determine a way forword which will be present to the Council in a report to endorse for public exhibition.
3. Public Exhibition:
It is planned to exhibit the proposed way forward on dog exclusion areas in sportsgrounds later this year after it has been endorsed by the Council. Another public notice will advise when this occurs. If you wish to be informed when the exhibition occurs, and receive a copy of the resulting document, please forward your details to the contact below.
Input from the public exhibition will be presented to the Council, together with the reviewed way forward on dog exclusion areas. Council can then adopt or amend the proposed way forward and assign funds to the implementation.
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The issue of dog use on sportsgrounds has been raised from forums such as Sports Council(2) meetings and past community consultation such as dog off-leash trials. When this issue sportsgrounds has been raised, it is considered to be a greater issue when playing “contact” sports, more so than other sporting uses. Contact sports are those in which people must make physical contact as part of the game, and usually this will also result in direct contact with the ground during the game. This includes games such as football, rugby and AFL. Many physical sports however can require running large distances over ground and occasional sliding.
The Blue Mountains Local Government area has a total of 21 sportsgrounds from Lapstone to Mt Victoria. Each of these sportsgrounds receives different sporting uses, ranging from multiple fields regularly booked by a number of sporting groups, to a single field used by one sport for a season. These sportsgrounds also provide large spaces which are available for a variety of casual recreational uses when not booked by a sporting group. This includes recreational dog use. Recreational dog use includes walking a dog on a leash, and also dog off-leash use on some specified areas. Some sportsgrounds may also support regular bookings from organisations such as dog training clubs.
It is estimated that 37.8%(3) of households have a dog, and Council estimates indicate approximately 20,400 dogs known to live within the Blue Mountains(4). Some recognised benefits of pet ownership include health benefits to the owners, companionship, social opportunities and educating children. Access to public open spaces for dogs is also important for health and social benefits to the owners, improved dog behaviour and supporting the popularity of dog ownership.(5)
This consultation has concluded. To view the report that went to the Council meeting of 5 June 2013, and the Minutes with the subsequent Council resolution, please go to the downloads in the Library . If you would like to be informed of further developments on this issue, including further consultation that may take place, please Email or phone Council's Recreation Development Officer.
