Being a longtime resident of our fabulous ‘Papadice' - and an almost daily dogwalker on our beach - I'd like to point out that for near on nine months of the year our beach is virtually deserted except for diehard walkers and people with dogs.

A lot of us bought here in Papamoa for the sole reason that it's a welcoming, village-like, dog-friendly suburb - after all we could have bought at the Mount or stayed in the cities.
In summer, to be honest, I'm not always fussy about having screaming children throwing sand around when I'm on the beach quietly reading my book. But I don't get the council to take them away! I realise the beach is there to be shared.

Please don't go overboard with regulations just because of a small handful of probably not even residents who are careless dog owners.

Let's look at a compromise. What about during the months of December, January and February we make it ‘dogs on leads' 500 metres either side of the Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club instead of the present 200 metres.

After all, people should be swimming between the flags anyway!

P Jensen, Papamoa.