The draft bylaw currently bans dogs from the children’s play areas in Carrington Park. PHOTO/FILE
CHELSEA BOYLE
Whether dogs should be allowed in children’s playgrounds was a question weighing on the minds of Carterton District councillors last week.
Planning and regulatory manager Dave Gittings told a council committee that the existing dog control bylaws expired on October 9, and it was time to go back to public consultation.
Carterton District councillor Russell Keys said they needed to keep it easy for people to understand.
“We need to be consistent so it’s easy to follow the bylaws.”
That meant there should be the same rules across the playground areas, he said.
Those who broke the rules faced hefty fines.
For instance, failure to keep a dog controlled or confined resulted in a $200 fine.
A draft bylaw bans dogs from the children’s play areas in Carrington Park and Howard Booth Park.
It does not specify the children’s playground in Bird’s Park as a no-go zone for dogs.
In the proposed document, dogs were also banned from public swimming pools on Pembroke Street and the landfill on Dalefield Road.
The exceptions to these bans were disability assistance dogs and police dogs.
Dogs must be leashed when in Carterton’s central business area, Memorial Square, Clareville Cemetery, the camping ground and Bird’s Park.
At the same meeting, Mr Gittings presented a report on dog control for the year spanning July 1 last year to June 30 this year.
There were 2715 dogs registered in that period.
During that time, there was a total of 400 dog-related complaints, 114 cases of dogs wandering, 63 dogs impounded and eight dogs destroyed.
Submissions on the dog control bylaws will close on September 29 at 4pm.
