Every Victorian council must have a Domestic Animal Management Plan (DAMP) and review it every four years under the Domestic Animal Management Act (1994)

The DAMP provides the framework for the planning, development, and evaluation of animal management services and programs delivered by Council and needs to comply with the requirements of the Act.

The Domestic Animal Management Plan outlines how we’ll manage dogs and cats within our community, including services and programs to promote responsible pet ownership, registration, training of officers, and minimising health and safety risks from nuisance animals, and reviewing existing Local Laws and orders made under the Act.

We’re engaging with our community and interested stakeholders to understand their needs and concerns about domestic animals (primarily dogs and cats). Your feedback will help to inform new DAMP actions and ensure our resources are invested to meet our broad community needs.

Council must adopt a new Domestic Animal Management Plan by June 2022.

Project impacts

Bayside has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in Victoria – with pets residing in more than one in three households. Owning a pet has many benefits, including an improved sense of wellbeing, safety and social connectedness. However, not everyone shares the same views about pets.

With finite open space and a growing population, we need a balanced plan that provides for everyone and ensures the safety and welfare of pets, people and our environment. It is vital that we hear from a broad section of the community – including people who don’t have pets – to ensure our Domestic Animal Management Plan meets the diverse needs of our community.

The DAMP sets actions to be delivered over four years. These can include new or improved programs and services or changes to existing Local Laws and Council orders (restrictions) for domestic animals.

While the DAMP covers leash restrictions and timings in existing shared open space areas, secure exclusive or new dog off-leash areas are strategic considerations of Open Space and would form part of a local master planning process, which is outside of the scope and role of the DAMP. Bayside’s Open Space Strategy is expected to be reviewed in 2022-23.

During 2020-21, there have been increased and serious concerns raised with Council regarding community conflict and safety when some dog owners are using sports grounds for off-leash purposes while organised sports training is occurring, or holes dug by dogs causing injury to sports players. These are long-standing issues, and community engagement on the DAMP will seek to identify and understand community views on these issues in order to explore ways to increase the safety of both dogs and people sharing sportsgrounds, if required.

There have also been concerns raised about cats roaming into private gardens or environmental sensitive areas and endangering native wildlife. Bayside already has a night cat curfew, and community engagement will also seek to identify if these are concerns widely shared by our community and if there is support for any stronger controls relating to domestic cats.

Any changes to existing controls/Local Laws/Council orders would be delivered through actions in the Domestic Animal Management Plan.

What information do we need from the community?

We’re conducting engagement in two phases to gather feedback from the community.

• In Phase 1, we want to research current trends and emerging issues, measure community experience, expectations and satisfaction, and hear new ideas. This feedback will be used to set new DAMP actions.
• In Phase 2, we want to hear your feedback on the draft DAMP 2022-26. Have we got it right? Does it protect the safety and welfare of our pets, people and environment?

Feedback gathered through the engagement process which is outside of the scope of the Domestic Animal Management Plan will be shared with our Open Space and Recreation team to inform their future plans and strategies.

• Approach to ensure responsible pet ownership in public areas
• Educational programs and activities to encourage responsible pet ownership and improve animal management
• Controls to manage dogs and cats in the community
• Delivery of animal management enforcement and pet registration
• Controls to enforce responsible pet ownership in public areas (bushland, reserves, conservation areas, parks, foreshore).
• Actions to increase the safety of all users of dog off-leash areas
• Controls related to dogs accessing sporting grounds during organised sport
• Methods to encourage early registration of animals, such as discounted registration for new dog owners.
• Process and controls to identify unregistered dogs over 12 months
• Experience reporting issues with domestic animals
• Areas designated on and off-leash
• Timing of foreshore leash restrictions

• Requirement under the Domestic Animal Management Act to develop a new DAMP and deliver actions
• Council’s requirement to enforce Local Laws and Victorian Government policy, including administering pet registration and managing dangerous dogs
• Fees and charges for registration
• Requirement for people caring for pets and domestic animals to ensure their pets are kept safe and healthy and that they comply with relevant local and state legislation.
• Current zoning of land (primary state use) and use of land managed by Parks Victoria or another.
• Establishment of secure new dog parks and off-leash areas
• Use of the natural environment and location of fencing to delineate dog off-leash areas.
• Provision of gates on sportsgrounds
• Public facilities for dog walkers, eg bins, waste bags, water bowls

Stakeholders and community

This stakeholder assessment is a generalised understanding of sections of the community that have a connection to the project or matter. This information is used to understand the types of tools and techniques that will achieve the strongest and most effective outcomes for engagement and communication.

Impact: What level of change the stakeholder / community segment may experience as a result of the project / matter

Interest: What level of interest has been expressed or is anticipated

Influence: Reference to the IAP2 Spectrum

Selected tools and techniques

The tools and techniques selected for this project are informed by the project content, stakeholders and type of feedback sought. The impact of COVID-19 restricts our ability for face-to-face communication, as well as slower distribution of printed mail.

Phase 1 engagement - October - November 2021

Key tools for communicating the project

• Direct email to Have Your Say subscribers, pet registration database, and customer service database (recent domestic animal-related enquiries)
• Direct email and/or addressed mail to domestic animal-related businesses and stakeholder community groups
• Signage at 29 designated dog off-leash areas
• News stories on Council’s website
• This Week in Bayside and special interest e-newsletters
• Social media, including sponsored posts to increase reach
• Let’s Talk Bayside magazine – October/November 21 issue
• Printed survey and consultation materials available upon request

Key methods for gathering feedback

• Online engagement through Have Your Say, including interactive maps, and opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback
• Printed survey sent to 5,700 random representative households (over 10% of Bayside households)
• In-depth interviews with key stakeholders including dog/cat, environmental and sport community groups
• Drop-in or pop-up engagement sessions at major activity centres, reserves and playgrounds, and/or local community centres and events (subject to COVID restrictions)
• Liaison with community representatives, including Committees of Council, local interest and reference groups

Phase 2 engagement - March - April 2022

Key tools for communicating the project

• Direct email to Have Your Say project subscribers and pet registration database
• Direct email and/or addressed mail to domestic animal-related businesses and stakeholder community groups
• News stories on Council’s website
• This Week in Bayside and special interest e-newsletters
• Social media, including sponsored posts to increase reach
• Let’s Talk Bayside magazine – April/May 22 issue
• Printed survey and consultation materials available upon request

Key methods for gathering feedback

• Online engagement through Have Your Say, including interactive maps, and opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback
• Drop-in engagement session at Pet’s Day Out in Cheltenham Park on 10 April 2022 (subject to COVID restrictions)
• Liaison with community representatives, including Committees of Council, local interest and reference groups.

Project timelines

Decision-making process

Bayside’s Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022-2026 is being informed by:

• Requirements from within the Domestic Animal Management Act 1994
• Community feedback across two phases of engagement
• Consultation with Bayside City Council departments
• Legal advice
• Benchmarking with other Local Government areas

The first phase of consultation will focus on researching current trends and emerging issues, measuring community experience, expectations and satisfaction, and idea generation. This feedback will be used to set new DAMP actions.

The first phase of community consultation will run from 18 September 2021 until 28 November 2021.

Following consideration of community feedback, a draft DAMP 2022-26 and report on the first phase of community and stakeholder engagement is expected to be considered by Council in March 2022.

Following revisions from community feedback received in a second phase of consultation in March-April 2022, a proposed new Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022-26 is expected to be considered by Council for adoption in May 2022.

Bayside must adopt its new Domestic Animal Management Plan by June 2022.

Please select ‘subscribe’ at the top of the page to receive updates about this project, including when it will be considered at Council meetings.

More information

For enquiries related to this project, please contact Council's Local Laws department via email animals@bayside.vic.gov.au or phone 03 9599 4626.