At a Council meeting on 27 August 2025, Council adopted the new Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw 2025, with any fees and costs associated with the abandoned shopping trolley collection be kept under review.

At the same meeting:

• Council adopted the amendments to the Traffic Bylaw 2025
• The amendments to the General Bylaw 2025
• And the new Dangerous, Affected and Insanitary Buildings Policy (DAI Buildings Policy) 2025.

Council also resolved that all these bylaws and policy will come into effect on 1 September 2025, excluding the specific shopping trolley clause (contained in the Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw 2025) which will come into effect on 1 October 2025.

During the consultation, we received a total of 97 submissions, coming from the online survey and via email.

The majority of respondents agreed with the proposed changes for all four of the bylaws and policy.

Key themes in the feedback

Those that agreed with proposals said:

• Responsibility was a key theme for the Solid Waste Bylaw, with 25% of residents stating that retailers should be made responsible for the collection of the trolleys. Of the 11 people who disagreed with the proposals, 45% of these stated that it was not the retailer's fault.
• For the Traffic Bylaw, negative behaviours was a key theme with 29% of respondents stating they had experienced some form of unwanted, intimidating, and aggressive behaviour
• A key theme for the General Bylaw was community safety, with 25% of respondents commenting that this measure is needed to keep the public safe and that if left, these verandahs pose a real hazard/safety risk
• Around 20% mentioned the importance of safety for the DAI Buildings Policy and the need to meet against risks, as well as some including personal experiences of unsafe and unsanitary buildings in Rotorua.

Rotorua Lakes Council is looking at some changes to help make our city safer and more enjoyable for everyone. This includes dealing with things like intimidating behaviour, abandoned shopping trolleys, unsafe verandahs, and buildings that could be a risk to people or property.

We plan to make these changes by reviewing some of our bylaws and policies to help improve inner-city safety. We asked for feedback on all the changes at the same time.

Council policies and bylaws help us manage local issues. Policies guide how we do things, and bylaws are local rules that help keep our communities safe and well.

To help make the inner city of Rotorua safer and more welcoming, we proposed changes to three bylaws and one policy. These were:

• Solid Waste Bylaw 2016
• Traffic Bylaw 2018
• General Bylaw 2017
• The Dangerous, Affected and Insanitary Buildings Policy.