Revised bylaws for street trading and temporary signs

Keeping our pavements, streets and parks clean, safe and attractive, while supporting a range of lifestyle and trading activities characteristic to a thriving city, has lead North Shore City Council to adopt two revised bylaws.

From July 1 permits will be required for a range of activities covered by the Trading in Public Places Bylaw including outdoor cafes and street trading activities on public land.

“The revised rules will affect those carrying out trading activities in streets, reserves, recreational grounds and other public land as well as people wishing to hire out boats, kayaks and other water craft from a public area,” says North Shore City’s senior environmental protection advisor, Ian Parker.

“We expect that the permit requirements will take about six months to implement,” he says.

A second bylaw, Control of Temporary Signs, sets requirements for the display, construction and maintenance of temporary and moveable signs, and the removal of offending signs. Permits will be required for temporary signs that don’t meet the specified criteria in the bylaw.

“The bylaw aims to ensure that the city is not littered with signs that obstruct accessways, are oversized, dangerous or unnecessary,” says Mr Parker.

Chairman of North Shore City’s strategic management committee, Gary Holmes, says that the changes to the bylaws are necessary but fair.
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“We think we’ve achieved a good balance with the revised bylaws as they support commercial activities natural to a city of our size and essential to its character, whilst maintaining standards of safety, cleanliness and other community values which the residents of North Shore City expect their council to govern,” Councillor Holmes says.

“We’re committed to providing clean and green open spaces, good urban design, attractive streetscapes, a modern waste collection and recycling service and a number of environmental initiatives. It’s up to us to ensure that these initiatives are not spoilt because we don’t have some sensible controls around trading activities in public spaces or the type of signage we allow to be displayed across our city,” he says.

The new signage rules affect election and other political signage, real estate signs, sandwich boards, banner poles and other footpath and kerbside advertising as well as signs advertising community events.

Details of the revised bylaws are available on the council’s website www.northshorecity.govt.nz.

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