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Port Stephens residents making complains about barking dogs will in future have to keep a diary for 14 days to establish the validity of their complaint. This was one of the key changes to the dog noise policy, effective immediately, after being adopted by councillors at the last meeting of Port Stephens Council. A report to council stated that the policy change would provide the dog owner "an opportunity to resolve a barking dog complaint within 14 days", rather than being immediately issued with a noise abatement direction as per the previous policy. "In addition, council will seek to obtain additional verification to the one barking dog diary previously required to substantiate the validity of any new complaints. The verification could include (but is not limited to) site inspections, neighbour interviews, patrols, video and audio recordings." Council received six submissions when the revised policy went out on public exhibition in July, five of which were supportive of the policy changes. "The submission against the proposed policy changes commented that council staff were not qualified or experienced enough in investigations to legally implement the relevant legislation or the policy changes," the report stated. "Of the five remaining submissions, four were supportive of the policy changes and had no significant concerns or suggestions. It was apparent that the residents were relaying their interpretation of the revised policy back to council and were wanting to share their previous experiences." It was reported that council staff were of the view that dog noise could be effectively and reasonably managed under the revised policy.

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