Surfers at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach have reacted furiously to suggestions they could be banned from using its northern end for wave riding, with one surfer dismissing it as "overkill".

The council in charge of the beachfront is reviewing whether it should restrict all boards with fins to the southern end of the beach, including soft boards popular with children and other beginners.

According to Waverley Council's current regulations, soft boards are allowed anywhere apart from between the red-and-white flags, while hard boards made of fibreglass are confined to the southern breaks.

In a survey of beach users as part of its annual risk review, the council noted the 900-metre-long beach was used by an "incredible amount of competing user groups".

It said that 84 per cent of people used the water outside the flags.

Don Atkinson after a surf on Bondi Beach this morning ( ABC News: Rachel Hayter )

The proposal drew an angry response from surfers at the beach this morning, with Bondi local Shane Hartwig describing it as "overkill".

"The beach is for everybody," he said. "There's enough regulation in Australia without having to stop things because of perceived danger."

Fellow surfer Don Atkinson dismissed it as "craziness".

"It would be really dangerous to push every single surfboard on the whole beach down into that south corner, I think it's really nuts," he said.

Bondi Board Riders president Ian Wallace said the ban would be wide-reaching.

"Paddle boards, surf skis, nippers boards … essentially they all have fins," he said.

Surfers say restricting all boards to one end of the beach won't work. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

"The southern end of the beach is the most dangerous end, it has the biggest waves and it has more rips.

"You're going to put everyone down in that one end and then you're going to throw your learners in there, your kids in there … it just can't work."

The local North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC) has also signalled it will not support the change.

In a Facebook post to members, the club said it had spoken to council officials who emphasise the potential ban is "just a survey at this stage".

"Our primary objective is to ensure the swimming and surfing public are safe, however this plan is not going to do that and stands the chance of actually making it far more dangerous."

Other club presidents were all "on the same page", the club said.

Waverley Mayor John Wakefield played down the issue, saying it had become "overblown."

The southern end of Bondi Beach, where fibreglass boards are currently restricted to. ( Unsplash: Simon Rae )

"Soft boards are no longer as soft as they were and there's been a number of residents and users of the beach who have expressed concerns about safety," he said.

"We are conducting a transparent and open process to involve the community to get the mix better.

"No policy has been derived, no policy has been accepted."

A Waverly Council spokesperson said beach operations were reviewed every year and the survey was part of the wider risk review.

The survey will be open for 28 days and no decision will be made until after the results are analysed.