Pyrmont residents angry at lack of off-leash parks

Pyrmont residents are calling for Council to rescind the decision to re-classify parks along the Pyrmont Peninsula.

Locals are angry about the lack of off-leash dog parks in Pyrmont and the limited access available for disabled and elderly dog owners.

Council reclassified parks along the Pyrmont Peninsula for the purpose of off-leash dog access at the end of last year.

But despite Council announcing three parks available for off-leash use, the parks are still under the control of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and are subsequently still designated “on-leash”.

Local resident Pheona Mulligan, who has spina bifida, said the lack of disable-friendly parks has made her feel “isolated” as she struggles to gain access to other parks.

In an email sent to Lord Mayor Clover Moore and other Councillors, she expressed her disappointment.

“I am writing to you as a very concerned and upset resident of Pyrmont in the hope that the recent changes to the on leash/ off leash areas in Pyrmont be revised as the changes have made what once was a very tight knit community a now splintered and unfriendly environment for dog owners,” Ms Mulligan said in the email.

“All the recent changes have upset many people of which a large number are either disabled or have age related mobility issues and I feel strongly that the decision to make Cadi Park on leash is almost unconscionable.”

Due to the lack of off-leash parks along the Peninsula, disabled and elderly dog owners have to undertake the journey to off-leash Giba Park, at the top of a hill in Pyrmont.

Ms Mulligan said she rarely visits Giba Park because of the dangers involved in crossing sections of the road where cars have no visibility and the sections of the footpath that are too steep for her mobility scooter.

Local residents said they are angry at the lack of off-leash parks and Council’s lack of community consultation .

“Most people in Pyrmont couldn’t give a toss if parks were on-leash, or off-leash,” a Pyrmont resident said.

The resident told City News his wife was issued a warning by Council rangers recently, after having their dog off its leash at Cadi Park.

He alleges Pyrmont Action Group, led by Deputy Lord Mayor Marcelle Hoff, “mobilised their troops” to ensure the park was made on-leash.

Angry residents have begun a petition requesting a new community consultation be initiated in a manner “as to prevent multiple vote submissions by any individual or group”.

But Deputy Lord Mayor Marcelle Hoff defended Council’s decision and said that while Pyrmont had more dog owners than many other areas, it was difficult to please everybody.

“There are always people who are not happy and I appreciate that,” she said.

Ms Hoff said Council endured a long consultation process to hear peoples’ view on the issue.

“The consultation process was an effort to hear what everybody had to say,” she said.

“Decisions were made with the responses we got back.”

At the end of last year, Council recommended that four parks along the Pyrmont Peninsula be designated on-leash at all times including Ballaarat Park, Cadi Park, Pirrama Park and Waterfront Park.

But local residents are disappointed anti-dog campaigners are watching for dog owners to let their dogs of their leashes so they can complain to Council.

“Many dog owners feels that just a handful of residents are attempting to force dog owners out of the area altogether by undertaking vexatious complaints to Council,” local resident Kate Fraser told City News.

But City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone said in a letter to some residents, obtained by City News, that there is “no reason to rescind” Council’s decision about on-leash/off-leash parks as “it was made on the basis of thorough research conducted through standard City processes”.