The Georges River Record

Residents near Progress Park will see an off-leash dog area trialled for six months starting in September. The council also voted down a request for pedestrian safety fences at Railway Parade and its intersections with Ruby Street and Elizabeth Street.

The fence request came from the Local Transport Forum meeting held on 24 June 2026, pulled out for separate debate as LTF 053-26. A councillor said a similar motion had been voted down by the chair and the mayor and most of the council, and that 18 or 19 months on all that had come back was a sentence saying the council would take no further action after inspecting the site.

On the Railway Parade item the room was polled, and the motion was declared lost.

The off-leash trial at Progress Park followed a feasibility study and public consultation, and it was moved by Councillor Liu and seconded by Councillor Jamison. Councillor Liu said a motion last year led to the work and that the report would come back once the six-month trial finished.

"we understand that is coming from one of my motions last year"

Councillor Jamison said residents in the residential area had raised concerns, and asked that privacy and other issues be dealt with before the trial proceeds. A councillor pointed to the situation at Merv Lynch, where dog owners and residents both have a right to enjoy the park but the use came too close to homes.

The chair declared the motion carried. The council then moved to its capital projects update for July, moved by Councillor Lansbury and seconded by Councillor Jamison, and declared that motion carried as well.

The council also adopted a Lux lighting prioritisation matrix and methodology for turf sports fields. A speaker said the report dates back to a notice of motion from July 2024, that Pride Lighting Australia tested 45 natural turf sports fields in May 2025, and that 28 fields are compliant, with 19 meeting 50 lux and nine meeting 100 lux.

The speaker said funding had been endorsed in the June council meeting budget as a dedicated line item, and that the works were long overdue.