Auckland Council wants to make sure that Aucklanders can enjoy our region’s public places, while keeping safe.

The council is proposing changes to the Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw to minimise nuisance and safety risks to people when using public places.

The bylaw includes a wide range of issues that Aucklanders encounter daily: from using a drone, activities on a park or a beach, set netting, graffiti and car window washing.

The proposed changes won’t alter the council’s levels of service to safety and nuisance complaints, but will ensure that the most appropriate legislation is used, and that the bylaw is easier to understand.

“Many Aucklanders may not be aware of this bylaw, but it is wide-ranging and covers many activities that people interact with every day," says Councillor Linda Cooper, Chair of the Regulatory Committee.

“We have recently checked how well the rules in the bylaw are working and identified some improvements.”

“The proposed changes aim to remove any unnecessary aspects of the bylaw and streamline regulation, so we don’t have multiple rules for one issue. They also help to make the bylaw easier to use and understand.”​

“We encourage people to have their say, so that we can put in place these changes to make sure the bylaw stays fit for purpose in future,” she says.

Some parts of the bylaw are proposed to be revoked or removed (as they are dealt with better by other legislation or Auckland Council bylaws), and other parts are proposed to be amended to improve their effectiveness.

The main proposed changes include:

• clarifying expected behavior and restrictions on people using public places
• prohibiting people from leaving or storing construction materials, shipping containers, consumer goods, and boats in public places
• clarifying how the council sets controls and gives approval for activities on public places
• clarifying which public places the bylaw applies to and enabling organisations in control of those places to approve bylaw exceptions.

Regulation would be streamlined by:

• using national legislation rather than bylaws for car window washing, mind-altering substances, graffiti, noise, fish offal, and street naming and numbering
• moving issues about animals, signage, stormwater and vehicles to existing council bylaws.

Request to government to ban the public sale of fireworks

The council intends to ask the government to ban the sale of fireworks to the general public and wants Aucklanders' views on whether or not they support a ban. Public firework displays would still be allowed. Aucklanders are also able to provide their views on this as part of the bylaw consultation process.

Have your say now

You now have an opportunity to tell us your views. This consultation is seeking public feedback from now until 5 December.

Have your say events are also being held across the region over the next month.

Make a submission and find out more at the Auckland Council website.

What are bylaws and why do we review them?

• Bylaws are rules made by local councils that affect the way we live, work and play.
• As a statutory requirement, bylaws are reviewed every five to 10 years. This process involves public consultations to make sure our bylaws are useful and reflect what Aucklanders need.
• Some of these bylaws are no longer needed as other legislation has become operative.