{"id":594561,"date":"2026-04-09T01:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/594561\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T01:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:02:29","slug":"conflict-experts-called-in-following-a-dispute-over-a-dog-fence-in-coburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/594561\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflict experts called in following a dispute over a dog fence in Coburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

A council in Melbourne’s north has dismantled a controversial dog fence around a popular park on the Merri Creek while it manages workshops to resolve community conflict about the fence.<\/p>\n

Merri-Bek council voted in August to fence off part of Tate Reserve in Coburg<\/a> to dogs, in a bid to attract native swamp wallabies back to the area, and as part of a broader plan to manage the growing dog population in the municipality and concerns from a minority of increasing poor behaviour.<\/p>\n

The two-metre fence bisected Tate Reserve, a large and well-used 32,400-square-metre forested area on the bank of the Merri Creek with wattle and eucalyptus trees.<\/p>\n

\"The\"Areas Areas where dogs were allowed in blue. \/ The council’s future plans.<\/p>\n

But some locals were concerned the fence would push dog walkers, cyclists and pedestrians on to a single path around the edge of the reserve, in an area where women have experienced harassment and violence.<\/p>\n

Over the six-month trial period the fence was repeatedly vandalised before the council ultimately removed it.<\/p>\n

The council has brought in external conflict resolution experts to run workshops to bridge the divide, after which it will decide whether and how to replace the fence.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The controversial dog fence was removed after a six-month trial. (Supplied: Maureen Schott)<\/p>\n

Council officers said there were concerns at other seven trial sites about conflict between dogs and cyclists, and with sporting groups, but that the community was largely supportive of efforts to clarify the council’s strategy around dog walking.<\/p>\n

The report found Merri-Bek has higher rates of dog ownership compared to neighbouring councils, with 13,332 registered dogs.<\/p>\n

That was compared to 9,235 registered dogs in Darebin, 9,794 in Moonee Valley, 6,531 in Yarra and 4,473 in the City of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Merri-bek manages 57 off-leash areas, compared to 30 in Darebin, 11 in Moonee Valley, 28 in Yarra and 17 in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Source: Merri-bek Council<\/p>\n

But Merri-bek officers acknowledged while there were some common themes emerging, including calls for more education about dog owner responsibilities and problems with dog behaviour, Tate Reserve attracted heated debate.<\/p>\n

“Tate Reserve in Coburg remains challenging with an independently facilitated workshop planned with stakeholders to try and reconcile the community divide,” the report to council found.<\/p>\n

Community members ‘angry’ about fence<\/p>\n

Maureen Schott walks her dog, Bruce, at Tate Reserve regularly, and said she has always been an advocate of responsible dog ownership, and willing to engage productively with the council, although she opposed the fence.<\/p>\n

“But the zeitgeist was very much: there were a lot of angry people,” she said.<\/p>\n

She condemned the repeated vandalism of the fence and an incident in which dog poo was reportedly left in a community member’s letterbox.<\/p>\n

“It was essentially lone-wolf operators,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The fence has now been removed from around part of the park. (ABC News: Margaret Paul)<\/p>\n

Ms Schott is among a group of locals involved in the conflict resolution process, which she described as “a good step forward,” but said she ultimately hoped the fence would not be replaced.<\/p>\n

“Prohibition doesn’t work,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t work with alcohol, it doesn’t work with dogs and it doesn’t work with sex.”Environmentalists want to maintain the fence<\/p>\n

Friends of Merri Creek president Nick Williams, who is also a professor of horticulture and urban ecology at the University of Melbourne, said the trial had been undermined by a small group of people who were “thumbing their nose at the council”.<\/p>\n

“I think there’s a small but very vocal group of nearby residents who are very concerned that what they perceive as their rights to have their dogs run off leash everywhere will be impinged,” he said.<\/p>\n

Professor Williams said he didn’t know who was responsible for the fence being removed, but there had been some “pretty ordinary” behaviour, including graffiti that named other people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Williams is the president of Friends of Merri Creek. (ABC News: Tara Whitchurch)<\/p>\n

Despite the fence being removed, he said there had been two confirmed sightings of swamp wallabies in the area.<\/p>\n

“I think if anything this whole issue demonstrates the absolute importance of having these refuge areas along the creek,” he said.<\/p>\n

Friends of Merri Creek would also be involved in the conflict workshop which Professor Williams said was worthwhile given, he said, most locals were supportive of protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

“Tate Reserve is a large space, and there are off-leash areas immediately downstream and on the other side of the creek,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Asking dog owners to share the space is not a big ask.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A council in Melbourne’s north has dismantled a controversial dog fence around a popular park on the Merri…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,21121,2467,290170,290174,290172,290173,290171,44,46954,16863],"class_list":{"0":"post-594561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-coburg","11":"tag-council","12":"tag-dog-fence","13":"tag-dog-walking","14":"tag-friends-of-merri-creek","15":"tag-merri-creek","16":"tag-merri-bek","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-parks","19":"tag-safety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}