Purpose-built pooch parks for big and small

Thursday, 8 March 2018

A purpose-built dog park in Marlborough, with special play equipment for its canine customers, could be just a year away.

The Marlborough District Council has set aside close to $200,000 for three dog parks - two former landfill sites and a yet-to-be-decided site in Picton.

The parks, mostly paid for by dog fees, would be segregated, with areas for large dogs and small dogs.

Council animal control contract manager Jane Robertson said while there would be play equipment, the items had not yet been finalised.

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Marlborough District Council animal control sub-committee chairman Jamie Arbuckle said a park at the former Foxes Island landfill site, in Renwick, could be open next year.

'I'm confident now that within the next 12 months we should be physically seeing a dog park at Foxes Island,' Arbuckle said.

But councillor Michael Fitzpatrick said at a full council meeting on Monday he was against the idea of having dog parks.

'I'm not in favour of this, I believe we've got one of the biggest dog parks in Marlborough, and New Zealand, and it's the Taylor River. I walk it twice a day, hundreds of dogs walk that river everyday,' he said.

Arbuckle said on Thursday establishing dog parks had been on the council's agenda since a petition to establish dog parks was submitted seven years ago.

'There are a lot of people with small areas of land and they want to take their dogs to a place where they can let the dog go but still be confined into a fenced area.

'Also if you look at places like Christchurch and The Groynes is a really good example, when people travel through the district it's a great place for people to stop and if they have dogs on board they'll be able to run their dogs,' Arbuckle said.

Arbuckle was pleased to see the project get funding following a number of hurdles due to two of the sites being former landfill sites. 

They had to be capped with clay to be made safe, he said.

'We looked at the Foxes Island site [in Renwick], a former landfill site, what's held us up there is we had to get tests to see if the land was OK and that took nearly 18 months and the tests showed it was safe to use.'

A proposed park on George Conroy Dr, in Blenheim, on a former landfill site, had similar problems getting the go-ahead. 

'Blenheim was exactly the same and we had to go through the same process making sure we can use the site,' Arbuckle said.

Marlborough had 10,281 registered dogs. The parks would be 80 per cent funded by dog fees, with the remainder coming from rates.