In a local win for wildlife, a decision by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) has confirmed that the ‘Woodlands Eco-Hamlet’ by-laws ‘specifying that the keeping of cats and dogs is prohibited’ was upheld.
The Byron Shire Council (BSC) approval of the development on 14 November, 2008 required that the ‘neighbourhood management statement for Woodlands’ a 14-lot community title (CT), restrict dogs and cats from being brought onto, or residing at the property at Ewingsdale, at the end of Jaeger’s Lane and nestled up against the Cumbebin Swamp Nature Reserve.
‘There are echidnas, swamp wallabies, koalas, bandicoots, possums and all manner of snakes that share our 49 hectares of land. Not to mention a whole parliament of birds,’ Jane Armytage, one the owners of the CT, told The Echo.
High environmental value site
The rationale was that the Woodlands site is an integral part of a major wildlife corridor that connects the Cumbebin Swamp to the Broken Head Nature Reserve. It is also has high value as fauna habitat, providing a range of habitat types which support a high diversity of fauna including several vulnerable and endangered species, and the NPWS Bionet Database contains records of 60 threatened fauna species within 5km of Woodlands.
In an email dated 17 May 2024 from former councillor and chair of the Council’s Biodiversity Committee, Peter Westheimer, stated that, ‘Council imposed a no dogs and cats’ restriction on the Woodlands CT in order to be able to approve residential development in such an environmentally sensitive area. Without those restrictions, Woodlands would not have received CT status and the approval from Council.
‘It was the combination of clustered houses, a neighbourhood lot dedicated to conservation and in particular the restriction on dogs and cats that convinced councillors to approve this mixture of housing and environmentally significant land.
‘People forget that their fluffy pets either kill or frighten wildlife. That is why Council imposed consent conditions.’
However, in 2021 two lots introduced a dog each to their lots in breach of Woodlands By-Law 27 which prohibits cats and dogs on the property based on the changes to the strata laws, known as the Cooper Case that invalidated blanket bans on pets in strata schemes. An attempt to change the Woodlands by-law 27 in August 2022 to allow cats and dogs at Woodlands was lost.
‘The presence of dogs in three out of 13 lots was effectively giving the green light to any and all cats and dogs that might, in the future be brought onto our slice of the wild. It heralded the beginning of the end of sharing our land with these delightful, delicate, dangerous and shy creatures,’ said Ms Armytage.
NCAT challenge
Some members of the Woodlands community chose to test this challenge to the by-law by taking the dog owners to NCAT.
‘It has been a long and very expensive process to prove that our environmentally sensitive corridor has the right to remain dog and cat free,’ said Ms Armytage.
‘After three months of deliberation the tribunal ruled in our favour. The most significant outcome was the “reasonableness” determination that resulted in the recognition of biodiversity values.
‘The issue of dogs and cats is a thorny one driven as it is by loneliness, self interest, and the bond that is created between a pet and its owner. Once a dog is brought onto a community that has agreed to maintain a dog and cat free zone, the community fractures beyond repair.
‘We are not alone is seeing this as a victory for the rights of the wild as well as those neighbours who appreciate the wall of sound provided by the chorus of birdcalls, rather than dogs barking at each other.
‘We hope that this has set a precedent and a message: “the wildlife does have a voice and a no dog zone is a no dog zone” and if it is not upheld it sets in place an unresolvable conflict,’ she said.
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