There are two key documents causing concern to dog owners in our community:

  1. Orakei Local Parks Management Plan (The Plan)

  2. Dog policy, bylaw and regional and local park access rules (The Dog Bylaw)

The Plan is directly linked to The Dog Bylaw which you are submitting on right now. With the community's continued help and support both of these can be overturned to protect the rights of dog owners at Glover Park and Madills Farm.

The Auckland legislation outlines responsibilities. Local Boards can recommend changes to bylaws, BUT only the Council (the elected councillors) can make the final decision to change The Dog Bylaw.

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The council's Orakei Local Parks Management Plan (The Plan)

The Orakei Local Parks Management Plan (The Plan) covers the management of parks in the Orakei area and includes Madills Farm and Glover Park.

The Plan dictates how our local parks are protected, used and managed over the next ten years. It is an agreement between our Local Board members and us (the community) about the purpose of a parks; for example; quite reflective spaces, heritage spaces, volunteer groups, playgrounds, dog walking areas, formal and informal sports and rules on infrastructure etc.

The Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan

The Local Board has now created a revised plan called the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan, which they consulted to the community on in 2023.

This revised Draft plan removed the principles from each park, in particular the rights of dog owners.

Essentially The Plan says we don't care about dogs in parks because it's covered by a bylaw. If the Dog Bylaw goes through in the current consultation; then the council will adopt The Plan and dogs will lose access to Madills Farm and Glover Park.

Why is The Plan important?

In summary The Plan essentially says there will be a Dog Bylaw that can only be approved by Councillors.

This means that our parks are no longer our parks for our community to decide - this is a change from what’s happened in the past. The Local Board is essentially trying to take the rights of dog walking out of local hands.

The consultation for the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan (The Plan)

The consultation has already occurred and had an appalling bad response. Only 55 submitted in a network of 123 local parks. Of the 55 submitters they only talked about 7 parks or 13% of parks.

87,400 live in the Orakei area so 55 submitters are 0.06 of the population. Therefore, the words in this draft plan are not worth the paper they are written on.

The council could have done better to drive awareness for this consultation

Of those that responded in submissions 50 percent said yes to adopt the revised plan and 50 percent no or other.

Therefore, there is no clear mandate to adopt The Plan.

The Plan is an example of a poor consultation and based on evidence presented it gives no mandate for change. So, it is perplexing as to why we have the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan waiting in the wings for in the first place.

What was the feedback on Madills Farm for this consultation?

Of the small number of submissions there was a lot of specific feedback about Madills Farm including:

  • Concern about dominance of football on the park
  • Concern about football extending their playing season
  • Focal point of the community, dog walking play and environment were all mentioned as positive aspects of the park
  • Inadequate storage and changing
  • Extend the clubroom building
  • Expand the availability of fields, more use of fields for football outside of the traditional season

What did the Eastern Suburbs Association Football Club (ESAFC) have to say in the consultation for The Plan?

You will find their submission here which contains some interesting information and data about ground usage from ESAFC and other sports events such as Round the Bays and recommended hours of capacity that the sand carpeted pitch can withstand.

Analysis of evidence from submissions for the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan

This consultation (now closed) appears to be badly managed due to the small number of submissions and according to an analysis of evidence the community voice was clear that they wanted dogs to have full access in Madills farm.

Based on the evidence presented, dog walking needs to be back in the Orakei Local Parks Management Plan for the community to decide; AND the Dog Bylaw (which aims to reduce dog access to the Madills and Glover Park) needs to be abolished.

What should the community do if they are passionate about keeping dog access rights in Madill Farm and Glover Park

  • Reject the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan for the points mentioned above (note that the consultation is closed but The Plan is not approved yet). So please sign the petition that will be circulated soon
  • Reject The Dog Bylaw (the consultation is open but not approved yet)

How does the community reject the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan when the consultation is already closed?

You cannot make a submission to The Plan as the consultation is closed. But you can make your voice heard via a petition presented to Elected Members before The Dog Bylaw consultation closes AND as part of a submission for The Dog Bylaw. Kate Stace has relevant key points to include in the petition and will be organising and distributing the petition over the coming days to the Facebook group and website. We need all of your help to make this go viral and get as many signatures as possible asap before the consultation closes.

The Dog Bylaw consultation is open and you can make a submission to this. See the next slide.

The Council's Dog policy, bylaw and regional and local park access rules (The Dog Bylaw)

The current consultation for Madills farm and Glover Park:
Dog policy, bylaw and regional and local park access rules (The Dog Bylaw)

Dog access in Glover Park and Madills Farm is severely reduced to “better protect the health and safety of sports users and dogs and sports surfaces from damage, while still providing off-leash dog access on other areas of the parks that is consistent with dog access rules on all other parks in the local board area and the Auckland region”.

Some important points why we should reject The Dog Bylaw:

  • Reducing dog access to Madills farm and Glover Park is in direct contradiction to the purpose of the policy. The purpose of the Auckland Council Policy of Dogs 2019 is 1) To keep dogs as a positive part of the life of Aucklanders by maintaining opportunities for owners to take their dogs into public places 2) protecting dogs from harm and ensuring their welfare 3) adopting measures to minimise the problems caused by dogs.
  • Based on the evidence presented for the Draft Orakei Local Parks Management Plan there is no clear mandate to adopt this plan to prioritise sport groups in Madills Farm and Glover Park. The voice of the community was clear to keep current access rights for dogs at Madills farm.
  • There is no actual evidence in the bylaw consultation document that dog walking off or on leash has any impact on sports grounds or the health and safety of its users. Or put another way …The bylaw significantly reduces access for dog owners and there's no evidence that a dog restriction will create any benefit to the sports grounds or its users.
  • Dog walking should be for Local Boards to decide as they fund and coordinate parks from a strategic level - not the Council.
  • The proposed dog ban significantly diminishes the current services provided for dog walkers but doesn't give an alternative for how the Council will make up those diminished services.
  • There is no evidence that dog owners are responsible for a significant proportion of the overall maintenance/damage costs at Madills Farm and Glover Park. In fact, the previous ESAFC submission to The Plan cites overuse of the Madills Farm Reserve by sports teams and events such as Round The Bays.
  • There is no evidence to suggest that the current dog access at Madills Farm and Glover Park is a barrier to Council's strategy for Increasing Aucklanders' Participation in Sport: Investment Plan 2019-2039 - and other similar sports plans. A council sport strategy will continue to develop and thrive regardless of dog access at Madills Farm and Glover Park.
  • It is important to note that our community supports sports participation and the equal sharing of community parks and reserves for all to enjoy. Gloves Park and Madills Farm (as the name implies) are parks/reserves and not dedicated sports fields. Numbers playing sport may be on the rise, but so is dog ownership in our community and the revenue produced from dog registrations.

IMPORTANT: This is just a small sample of ideas, there are many more reasons why the community should reject The Dog Bylaw so please explore more reasons in your submissions. We need a diverse range of submissions.

Key information missing in the The Dog Bylaw consultation

  • There was no Issues and Options paper shared in the consultation documents that onlines the range of dog access options considered for Madills Farm and Glovers Park and how they landed on this final proposal for The Dog Bylaw. The community was only presented with one option in the proposed new bylaw, even though, I understand a range of options were considered by elected members in the previous workshops.
  • It has been stated that Dogs compromise health and safety at Madills farm and Glover Park. Where is the evidence in the consultation that supports an ongoing dog health and safety hazards at both of these locations?
  • There is a lack of transparency in The Dog Bylaw consultation with how The Plan and The Dog Bylaw are connected for Glover Park and Madills farm. See earlier comments.
  • Where is the data in the consultation documents? For example, it would have been appropriate to have the number of registered dog owners within a 5kms radius of parks like Madills Farm and Glover Park. 5km is standard distance of walkability and drive time for Aucklanders going to a park/place of interest. And other data, such as previous maintenance and repair costs for sports, Round the Bays and school events using Glover Park and Madills Farm.

Call to Action for the community:

  • Write a strong submission for The Dog Bylaw using this how to write a strong submission guide as reference
  • Make official information act requests to get data and/or evidence from the council or other parties to support your submission
  • Sign the petition which is circulating shortly to overturn The Plan.
  • Turn up to community meetings on this topic.
  • Join the Dogs and Friends of Madills Farm Facebook group.
  • Subscribe to email updates from us at #dogsofmadills
  • Please advise if you have personal friendships with any Councillors that may help our cause.
  • Lobby councillors on this topic - ask them why they think The Dog Bylaw is good idea and talk to them about why it isn't. Contact details of Councillors is on the Auckland Council website. Remember it is all councillors making the final decision on The Dog Bylaw.
  • Lobby local boards with reasons why The Plan should be overturned. Contact details of Local Boards on Council website.
  • Go to council Have your Say events on The Dog Bylaw details here. The next Have your Say event for Orakei is on 13 February. You must register to attend this event. You are required to register at least three business days prior to the consultation event you wish to attend. You can attend online or in-person.
  • There are also drop in/information events if you need to ask staff questions on the proposed changes to the dog policy and bylaw and local dog access rules. There is no need to register for these events details here.