During the long weekend,  the Austinmer resident photographed dogs roaming the rock pools and car parks as unconcerned owners simply watched on and failed to pick up after their dogs.

She forwarded those images to Wollongong City Council along with her submission on the  council’s controversial Dogs on Beaches and Parks Policy review, outlining why she believes Little Austinmer beach should become an ‘‘orange zone’’ as the council has proposed.

The two-month policy exhibition period closed at 5pm on Monday.

Mrs Glynn, who has owned and loved dogs all her life, said people were ‘‘destroying’’  the beach.

‘‘It’s lovely to have tourists visit but...with dogs all over it, it’s just going downhill and it’s getting destroyed,’’ she said.

‘‘I don’t think it’s a safe beach for families or a clean beach any more. Families near me don’t go down there any more because they sit down and there’s dog poo in the sand, or they go to walk on the rock platform and put their foot in dog poo.’’

Restricting the times that dogs and their owners could access the beach would allow visitors and families to comfortably use the area too, Mrs Glynn said.

She also suggested the council install clear signage near rock platforms and patrol problem areas more frequently  during  weekends.

 Councillor Leigh Colacino said all community responses to the policy review  would be collated.

‘‘The whole idea of it going on exhibition is to get that public feedback,’’ he said.

‘‘We want that feedback so we can make a decision to put in place an off-leash opportunity that will last well into the future...[one] that accounts for the increasing population and is done in a way that makes the beach experience enjoyable as possible for as many people as possible.’’

Cr Colacino said he had received hundreds of emails from residents, including some from dog owners who were unhappy with the latest policy, and others from non-dog owners who wanted the beaches to remain off- leash.

Under proposed changes, northern Illawarra dog owners would be stripped of off-leash areas at Sharkeys, McCauleys and Little Austinmer beaches.

Instead, dogs would only be allowed on the beaches at restricted times, provided they are on a leash.

In September,  the Illawarra Dog Community action group revealed the proposed changes to the three off-leash beaches were based on 25 complaints from just 15 households, according to information obtained under the Government Information (Public Access) Act.

That figure has been labelled ‘‘misleading’’ by Councillor Vicki Curran, who pointed out the GIPA request related to the council officer’s report only.