Who Is Making The Final Decisions On Dogs?

Is the Council being deliberately imprecise?

President of DOG (Dog Owners Group), Dr Cathy Casey is calling on the Auckland City Council to clarify who is making the final decisions about where dogs can go off leash in the city. This week, Auckland City Council is advertising a list of off-leash dog exercise areas for the city in its publication City Scene and is inviting public feedback by 29 August.

Dr Casey says the consultation process as outlined is ‘as clear as mud’.

“Like every other dog owner in Auckland I am trying to make sense of the consultation process over dog exercise areas as outlined by the Council in their recent City Scene publication. What I cannot decipher in the Council-speak is who is actually making the decisions on dog exercise areas at the end of the day. Try this classic piece of obfuscation: ‘Once all the feedback has been considered, the council's manager of compliance monitoring will consult with the community boards and decide on the dog exercise areas. These decisions will be confirmed at the council's Work's Committee in November and the public will be advised of the final designated areas.’ “

Dr Casey says that even the Community Board members that she has spoken with are unclear about who is actually making the final decisions.

“Ratepayers need to know exactly who will be making the final decisions about where we can take our dogs off-leash in Auckland. Is it the local Community Boards? Is it this Council Compliance Manager? Is it the Council’s Works Committee?

“Given the strength of public feeling on this issue it is really important that the Council makes the consultation process absolutely transparent and tells us who is making these particular decisions at the end of that process. Then we will know who to hold accountable.”

Dr Casey says that any ratepayer who wants to air their views and would like to know how to contact their local Community Board members can access that information through the DOG website: http:// http://www.dog.org.nz

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