Community prefers Edithvale Beach dog rules stay unchanged

23 October 2018

Last night Councillors agreed that Edithvale Beach will not become a 24-hour dog off-leash zone, with community feedback rejecting the plan.

Kingston Mayor Steve Staikos said that Council received nearly 1,000 submission from community members opposing the plan; and a number of other issues were raised through the consultation process.

“From the responses we identified some common issues: residents are fed up with people not picking up after their dogs, they would like more patrols, have access to free dog bags and see more fenced off-leash areas created in Kingston,” said Cr Staikos.

“Council has taken on board all of the feedback we’ve received and struck the right balance,” said Cr Staikos.

At the Ordinary Council Meeting, Councillors agreed to:

Council extended the opportunity for the public to provide feedback on the proposal, as part of the amendment to defer a decision until the 22 October Ordinary Council Meeting. “One of the key focuses of this Council has been engaging our community in decision-making and hearing from a wide range of voices in our community,” Cr Staikos said.

Dog owners can still exercise their pets off-lead on the beach at set times throughout the year.

During the summer period (1 November to 31 March) dogs are only permitted to be walked off- leash on the sanded areas from sunrise to 10am daily and are not permitted on the beach at all between 10am and 7.30pm. From 7.30pm until sunrise dogs can be walked on the sanded areas whilst on leash.

During the winter period (1 April to 31 October) dogs must be on a leash from 11am to 3pm but are permitted off leash on the sanded areas at all other times.

Kingston has 29 different off-lead park areas for owners to exercise and enjoy with their pets, including a 24-hour year-round dog beach in Mentone.

“Our Council supports dog ownership and introduced some wonderful changes in July this year making it much easier to return dogs to their owners, providing warning notices for first offence dogs at large and removing the fee for replacement dog tags,” said Cr Staikos.