DOGS will no longer be allowed within the artificial turf area at the Ellenbrook District Open Space (south) area – they will still be allowed on the main oval at Lilac Hill Park but need to be on leash during games and activities.

On February 14 City of Swan councillors also agreed to make Lilac Hill a priority area for the city’s ranger patrols for the next 12 months.

An officer’s report had recommended that dogs also be prohibited at the main oval at Lilac Hill Park, but a successful alternative motion was put forward by Pearce ward councillor Aaron Bowman who said there was insufficient information in the report to restrict dogs from the main oval at Lilac Park.

But Cr Bowman said the increased priority would allow rangers to better observe the situation.

His motion included that the city investigate the appropriateness of dogs being allowed on any other City of Swan artificial sport surfaces.

Swan Valley Gidgegannup ward councillors Rod Henderson and Charlie Zannino voted against the alternative motion.

Cr Zannino had wanted to add a fifth point to the alternative motion that the city investigate the installation of a fence to protect the main oval at Lilac Hill.

But the chief executive officer Stephen Cain suggested the administration could look at that separately and report back to the council.

Last year, when undertaking community consultation on the issue, the city said the two main cricket ovals within Lilac Hill Park in Guildford and the artificial turf area within Ellenbrook District Open Space (south) had been identified as having regular conflict of use between sporting groups and dog owners.

The February 7 officer’s report said during the consultation the majority of feedback received was in relation to Lilac Hill Park, primarily from dog owners, with a strong view not to make any changes to the current dog off lead areas at the park.

“But regular sporting and other users also indicated support for the proposed changes,’’ the officer’s report said.

“The feedback in relation to Ellenbrook was more favourable to the proposed changes for the artificial turf area becoming dog prohibited but there was still a reasonable level of opposition to the proposal from the community.’’