A proposed bylaw change could ease the rules around dog on Far North beaches. PHOTO / FILE
A proposed bylaw change could ease the rules around dog on Far North beaches. PHOTO / FILE
A proposed bylaw change could make it easier to take dogs onto Far North beaches next winter.
The Far North District Council is reviewing its 10-year-old Dog Control Bylaw with Mayor John Carter saying the aim is to strike a balance between dog owners' desires to exercise their pets inpublic and the council's duty to make sure dogs don't put people, livestock or wildlife in danger.
The Government had also ordered councils to take a tougher line on dangerous dogs.
The current bylaw bans dogs from many popular Far North beaches from 9am-6pm in summer when beaches are busy and shorebirds are nesting. It also bans dogs during the same hours on statutory holidays year-round, and requires dogs to be on a leash at all other times at Coopers Beach, Cable Bay, Taipa, Hihi, Opononi/Omapere, Taupo Bay, Paihia/Te Haumi, Russell and Opito Bay.
The proposed new bylaw would keep the summer restrictions but allow dogs off the leash from March to November at all beaches except Russell and Tauranga Bay. It would also lift the daytime dog ban during statutory holidays outside summer.
The new bylaw would also lift some urban dog bans, particularly in Kaikohe where dogs are currently barred from Lindvart Park, Memorial Park, Library Square, Joyce Park and Broadway, as well as footpaths along the Paihia waterfront.
Dogs would, however, still have to be on a leash in those areas, and would be banned from children's playgrounds and public pools across the district.
Two more beaches - Rangiputa and Tokerau - would be added to the list of beaches with daytime dog bans in summer.
The council's head of policy, Neil Miller, said the list of prohibited times and areas could change as a result of public submissions and on-the-ground research over summer.
"The proposals may well need to be refined and community feedback is part of getting the details right," he said.
The council is also proposing to create a new "responsible dog owner" category reducing registration fees for people who register, microchip and look after their animals.
Aspects of the bylaw that won't change are a limit of two dogs per property in urban areas and a requirement for dog owners to clean up any dog waste that isn't on their own property.
A separate, recently passed bylaw allows dogs on the Twin Coast Cycle Trail as long as they're on a lead. Dogs are banned from almost all land administered by the Department of Conservation.
