Rotorua Lakes Council has approved a bundle of new bylaws aimed at improving tidiness and safety in the city centre, after a debate over who should pay to collect abandoned shopping trolleys.
The decision at Wednesday’s council meeting followed a review of inner-city safety policies and bylaws.
The new bylaws covered unsafe begging at street lights, building veranda safety, dangerous buildings and a waste bylaw.
Consultation found substantial public support for all four amendments, which was mirrored in chambers at the meeting, the last before October’s local elections.
All but one bylaw passed without contest.
Under the new waste bylaw, the council will collect abandoned trolleys, with retailers given 24 hours to recover their property.
The potential cost of the trolley system had detractors in councillors Don Paterson and Lani Kereopa.
Both voted against the amendment, believing the burden should fall on the retailers and not ratepayers.
The annual cost of enforcement was estimated at $51,500.
Some of this could be recovered via storage and delivery fees after 24 hours of non-collection.
Kereopa said the council was “bending over backwards” for supermarkets and that ratepayers shouldn’t have to pay for collection considering the “billions of dollars” in revenue retailers make.
Councillor Conan O’Brien backed the system, saying it was “time for action” and other options could be investigated in the future.
Mayor Tania Tapsell admitted “frustration” over the issue but said that was shared by Rotorua’s “really good” retailers.
“Something needs to be done,” said Tapsell. “At least the problem will be solved and we will get the opportunity to recollect the cost.”
Rotorua ratepayers have shouldered bills as high as $5000 to remove as many as 260 abandoned shopping trolleys a month from inner-city streets.
The same bylaw included updates to discourage littering at donation points and to tighten rules around collecting and transporting commercial waste.
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Councillors also discussed an expanded traffic amendment to remove unsafe begging, a general bylaw requiring city centre building owners to maintain safe verandas and an update to the policy on dangerous buildings to align with recent national guidance.
The expanded traffic bylaw was adopted unanimously and followed community complaints about behaviour in the city centre.
It expands the current ban on washing the windows of stopped cars to include other behaviours considered “unsafe, alarming, intimidating and distressing”.
This could include begging, especially at traffic lights.
Paterson said the move was needed before somebody got “seriously injured”.
Tapsell said it was time to stop begging gangs coming to Rotorua and taking advantage of the “kindness and care” of the community.
Councillor Robert Lee agreed with the change but raised concerns over the New Zealand Bill of Rights and the right of freedom of movement.
Tapsell said the health and safety element of the action potentially mitigated those issues.
A general bylaw introducing requirements for building owners in the city centre to keep verandas safe and maintained also passed.
Council staff highlighted the case of two 4×4 pieces of wood propping up a city structure last year as an example of the problem.
An update to the Dangerous, Affected and Insanitary Buildings Policy 2025 was also adopted unanimously.
The new traffic, general and dangerous buildings rules will take effect on September 1, while those for shopping trolleys and waste management would be actioned from October.
By Mathew Nash, LDR Reporter
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
