Rotorua has had ongoing issues with shopping trolleys being taken from stores and left around the city. They create safety risks, block footpaths, and make the area look untidy.

A 2023 Council trial found around 260 trolleys a month were being collected, costing ratepayers $5,000. Council no longer provides this service and instead has worked with retailers to pick up their own trolleys. However, the issue continues, with hundreds more trolleys still being left around the inner city.

Council is looking to replace the current Solid Waste Bylaw with a new Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw in 2025. One key change would require retailers (with 10+ trolleys) to stop their shopping trolleys from becoming litter. Here’s what’s being proposed:

• Retailers will be required to erect signage prohibiting the removal of trolleys from their premise and information on how to report these trolleys if found.
• Retailers will be required to collect any trolleys reported by the member of the public within 24 hours.
• A process whereby Council will collect any abandoned trolleys they find and charge retailers for their collection or delivery.

View pages 4-6 of the Statement of Proposal to find out more about the changes.

Inner city Rotorua has seen issues with intimidating or unsafe behaviour. Right now, Council doesn’t have a bylaw to deal with this kind of behaviour unless it meets the legal threshold for police action. The proposed bylaw change aims to help manage these lower-level issues to keep the city safer for everyone.

Some examples of this are:

• Window washing and begging in areas where vehicle traffic intersects with foot traffic, and near busy intersections. Begging in these places can cause driver distraction, obstruct vision, causing elevated risks to pedestrians, the person themselves and motorists
• The use of scooters (powered or unpowered) in the CBD on the footpath poses a health and safety risk to members of the public if ridden in an unsafe and intimidating manner.

The current bylaw already bans unsafe and intimidating window washing. We're proposing to expand it to cover all nuisance behaviour in public places, like scooters on footpaths or begging in high traffic areas, obscuring the line of sight, or causing distress.

These changes won’t affect anyone’s rights to move freely or express themselves under the New Zealand Bill of Rights 1990.

View pages 6-7 of the Statement of Proposal to find out about the changes.

Verandahs

In the city centre and commercial areas, buildings are required to have verandahs that hang over public footpaths. Over time, some of these verandahs haven’t been properly maintained and can become unsafe.

While these issues don’t always meet the legal definition of “dangerous,” they can still pose a real safety risk. When this happens, Council works with the building owner or tenant to fix the problem quickly and keep the public safe.

However, if the issue is ignored, Council currently has limited powers to act fast — and legal action takes time. We’re looking at ways to improve this.

We’re proposing an update to the General Bylaw so Council can require building owners to fix unsafe verandahs and put up temporary safety measures. If they don’t act and the risk remains, Council could step in to make it safe and recover the costs from the owner.

View page 8 of the Statement of Proposal to find out about the changes.

The city’s current policy was adopted in 2020 and is due for review in 2025, as required every five years.

We have since received new recommendations and recent guidance from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

Following new advice from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, we’re proposing some updates to the Dangerous, Affected and Insanitary Buildings Policy.

The changes keep the same overall approach but make it clearer what actions are needed to keep people safe and add helpful background without changing how the policy works.

View page 9 of the Statement of Proposal to find out about the changes.