Raising the motion at Monday night’s meeting, Greens councillor Jill Merrin said the focus of the debate about dog access throughout the region had centred too much on beaches, so she wanted to shift it back to parks.

She proposed the council compile a report on the cost, the size and number of parks and look at potential locations in each Wollongong ward.

However, Liberal councillor Leigh Colacino objected, as he believed building a fenced dog park would make dogs and their owners more isolated from the community and was a veiled attempt to exclude them from off-leash beaches.

“What I have been trying to do this whole time is develop a dog environment that is beneficial to the whole community. This would just be isolating dogs and their owners in another backyard environment," he said.

Labor’s Ann Martin also spoke against the dog activity park, saying Cringila did not have a single children’s park “and yet we are seriously going to debate a play space for dogs”. 

Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery agreed, commenting on the lack of playgrounds throughout the region and saying there was ample space available for dogs on beaches. 

But Michelle Blicavs and Cr Merrin argued a dog park would provide a safer area for dogs to play and would not take away from play areas for children. 

Eventually, all but three of the councillors, Cr Colacino, Bede Crasnich and Greg Petty, supported a motion asking staff to investigate dog park options by November 24.