At deliberations last week, the Dunedin City Council’s hearings committee made recommendations on the proposed dog control bylaw changes.
Under the proposal, unformed legal roads in Woodside Glen, near Outram, would allow off-leash dogs, in step with the rest of the glen.
Submitters generally welcomed the idea of an off-leash reserve in the glen, but locals have said they oppose the idea.
Outram resident Susan Broad said the council was heading in the wrong direction with the proposed changes.
The glen was her preferred walking track until about a year ago, when she and her husband were bailed up by an off-leash dog with "hackles raised and teeth bared".
"I think the only reason that one of us wasn’t bitten is it couldn’t decide which one to bite first.
"That sort of indicated to me that the nature of the Woodside Glen had changed, and that the people that were regularly using it were perhaps not locals, and they were not owners of well-socialised dogs."
She wanted the council to turn down the proposal and restrict dogs at the glen — establishing a suitable dog exercise area near Outram instead.
While there "absolutely" were good dog owners, an increasing number of owners did not care about their dog’s behaviour and took issue when they were asked to control them, she said.
"I’m beginning to think, ‘where do I get to walk? Where’s my space?’
"It seemed to me that the council was not even prepared to discuss the option of either prohibiting dogs at Woodside Glen or making the entirety of Woodside Glen dog-on-leash."
At deliberations, committee chairman Cr Bill Acklin stressed the proposed change was a "formality" to address inconsistencies in the area.
"The glen itself is off-leash, but unformed legal roads within the reserve default to on-leash.
"What we’ve consulted on here, quite clearly, is allowing for dogs to be off leash on unformed legal roads ... [otherwise] it’s too hard to tell where those roads start and finish."
The nearby Department of Conservation-controlled Woodside Glen Track would remain an on-leash area, he said.
Public consultation on the council’s Woodside Glen proposal showed of 401 submissions, 74% were in favour of dogs off leash across the whole area, 23% wanted status quo and 3% wanted another option.
Of the 401 submitters, 20 submitters left comments with more reasoning — of those 11 wanted the status quo, eight were in opposition and wanted a different option, while one supported the proposal.
Woodside Glen resident Ray Beardsmore said he was disappointed with the recommendation, which was "just not common sense".
The committee should have given more weight to the submitters’ comments, which were largely made by locals against the proposal, he said.
If the council approved the changes he would appeal, he said.
