Archie and I visited the beach with Council staff to remind users that only the stretch between Second and Third Creeks is a designated off-lead area.

Redhead Beach is one of Lake Macquarie’s most popular off-lead areas but we need to ensure that people don’t abuse the privilege of having such a beautiful area to visit with their dogs.

Not everyone feels at ease around dogs, so it is important that dog owners respect other beach users by using the designated areas correctly, maintaining control of their pets and taking their ‘doggy do’ bags with them after their visit.

We have close to 80,000 dogs in our City, so providing areas for exercise and socialisation is a high priority. 

We are soon to open Lake Macquarie’s first fenced exercise area at Speers Point and another is planned for Thomas H Halton Park at Croudace Bay.

Off-lead areas are great fun for dogs and their owners, but no section of our parks or beaches are exclusively reserved for this purpose.  By ensuring dogs are closely supervised and under control when they are off lead, all users of our beaches and parks can enjoy these outdoor areas together.

It was my pleasure to join two local Olympic hopefuls, Poppy Starr Olsen and Jedd McKenzie, to launch the design of our new skate park at Charlestown last week.

The park-style layout is similar to the sort of design that will be used for the Olympics course, and was enthusiastically endorsed by both young athletes. 

The Charlestown Skate Park, which will open later this year, is one of a number of new skate parks planned for Lake Macquarie.  A new facility at Cameron Park is also in the pipeline, to be followed by new parks at Windale, Morisset and Croudace Bay.