by Kate Dwyer
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APPLAUSE is rarely heard at a council meeting, but last Wednesday Port Macquarie-Hastings Council administrator Garry Payne received an ovation following his decision to allow dogs on Wash House Beach.
Mr Payne ruled that the beach, popular with many residents for exercising and socialising their dogs, be changed from a dog permitted, timed, unleashed area to a permitted, untimed unleashed in the area north of the Kattang Nature Reserve.
Members of the Camden Haven/Surrounding Areas Dog Support Committee applauded the decision.
“This decision is in the interest of the community,” said committee coordinator Ron Shewring.
“Two out of three isn’t bad.”
The group made a submission requesting the whole beach be untimed and unleashed, but Mr Shewring said the group was happy with last Wednesday’s decision considering the debate and proposed policy change originally mooted the total prohibition of dogs on Wash House Beach.
In January the council changed signage on Wash House Beach prohibiting dogs, where previously dogs were permitted on the beach unleashed between the hours of 4pm and 8am.
The outcry from the Dunbogan community resulted in a lobby group being formed and submissions and letters to the council.
The council said the policy prohibiting dogs on Wash House was put in place five years ago but changing signage was overlooked until 2010.
The Camden Haven Courier researched the policy and found while the council did resolve to prohibit dogs on the beach, after being approached to do so by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, a month later then-councillors Daphne Johnston, Rob Nardella and Adam Prussing successfully rescinded the motion pending further meetings with the NPWS. No ruling was made since. The NPWS’s push to prohibit dogs, they said, was to protect the conservation values of the adjacent Kattang Nature Reserve.
The debate over Wash House Beach and issues surrounding areas in Port Macquarie, along with an approach to make two areas in Bonny Hills dog-permitted, has prompted the council to look at the dogs on beaches policy as a whole with a review to be presented in October and placed on public exhibition.
While undertaking the review the council last Wednesday adopted a recommendation to amend the policy for three beaches in the area: Wash House Beach, Little Bay and Pelican Island.
The amended policy states that Wash House Beach change from a Permitted/Timed/Unleashed Area, to Permitted/Un-timed/Unleashed in the area north of the Kattang Nature Reserve, that the small beach area directly to the north of the Tacking Point Lighthouse, known as Little Bay and Pelican Island be included in the policy as Prohibited Areas.
Director of Development and Environmental Services, Matt Rogers said, “Council deferred a decision on this issue at last month’s meeting to consider a submission made by the Camden Haven/Surrounding Areas Dog Support Committee.
“I am confident that enough consideration has been given particularly to the issue of Wash House Beach.
“While not everyone will be happy, I consider that the proposal to allow dogs on Wash House Beach north of the Nature Reserve boundary is considered an acceptable compromise position that caters for the needs of local residents and addresses the legitimate conservation requirements for the Nature Reserve and adjacent sensitive habitats,” Mr Rogers said.