Source: Radio New Zealand
Dog Lovers of Monte Cecilia Incorporated Society challenged a local board’s decision with a judicial review. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Auckland Council spent more than $100,000 fighting a group of aggrieved dog owners in court.
After a local board removed an off-leash dog area at Monte Cecilia Park in central Auckland, locals created the Dog Lovers of Monte Cecilia Incorporated Society to challenge the decision with a judicial review, which took place at the High Court in February.
Information supplied by the council under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), which RNZ has seen, shows the council spent $109,768.41 responding to the legal action brought against it between July 2025 and March 2026.
That included hiring a King’s Counsel, Katherine Anderson, to represent them in court.
The Dog Lovers Of Monte Cecilia were represented by lawyer George Barton, who took on their case pro bono.
The group raised almost $13,000 to cover other legal fees.
Justice Andrew Becroft is yet to release his judgment on the matter. But in court, he urged the two sides to find a resolution outside of the courtroom.
“For what is an area the size of a running track, there is vast resources being sunk into this by the Council, and there’s a huge amount of work going into this.
“I don’t want to diminish anybody’s emotional connection to the area or to their dogs. But you’d think for what is a reasonably small area, that there might be a way of resolving it short of both sides throwing the legal kitchen sink at the decision-making.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
