Bylaws Review 2025

Bylaws are enacted under the Local Government Act 2002 which requires that all bylaws be reviewed five years after the day when first enacted and then every ten years after that. If a bylaw is not reviewed within the required timeline, it is then revoked two years after the review due date and is no longer applicable.

The Trade Waste Bylaw was introduced in June 2016 and is now due for a routine review to ensure it's still working effectively.

The current bylaw works well, so Council is proposing to continue this bylaw without amendment.

This statement of proposal has been prepared in accordance with the requirements set out in section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002.

Council has considered the current Trade Waste Bylaw included with this Statement of Proposal and has determined that:

• A bylaw is the most appropriate way for the Council to regulate activities related to the wastewater system to ensure the protection of our community and the environment
• The proposed bylaw is the most appropriate form of bylaw for the purposes of consultation, and
• The bylaw has no implications against the Bill of Rights Act. Council has determined that any perceived infringement of these rights is justified in managing the safety and wellbeing of those within the district.

Council is proposing to continue the bylaw without amendment.

Bylaws are enacted under the Local Government Act 2002 which requires that all bylaws be reviewed five years after the day when first enacted and then every ten years after that. If a bylaw is not reviewed within the required timeline, it is then revoked two years after the review due date and is no longer applicable.

The Water Supply Bylaw was introduced in July 2015 and is now due for a routine review to ensure it's still working effectively.

We are proposing some changes to the Water Supply Bylaw to address inconsistencies and meet our legislative obligations.

This statement of proposal has been prepared in accordance with the requirements set out in section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002.

Council has considered the Water Supply Bylaw included with this Statement of Proposal and has determined that:

• A bylaw is the most appropriate way for the Council to regulate activities related to water network to ensure the protection of our community and the environment
• The proposed bylaw is the most appropriate form of bylaw for the purposes of consultation, and
• The bylaw has no implications against the Bill of Rights Act. Council has determined that any perceived infringement of these rights is justified in managing the safety and wellbeing of those within the district.

Proposed changes to backflow prevention

• Restructuring the bylaw regarding backflow prevention devices to make it clear that the responsibility lies with Council for backflow management. This will include Council taking responsibility of existing and future backflow prevention devices.
• Operators that are required to test the device for their consent conditions will still be able to do so.
• If a device needs to be installed or upgraded in the future due to a change of use at the property Council will install the device at the owners cost in the first instance. Subsequent replacement or repairs will be done by Council at Council’s cost unless the device has been damaged or destroyed by a third party.

Rationale

• New backflow prevention standards have been implemented with much stronger reporting requirements and a higher level of care is expected. The simplest way for Council to meet these standards is to clarify that we will take responsibility for the backflow prevention devices rather than relying on a mixture of Council and private operators to maintain and report on their devices regularly.
• In practice this is already happening as Council’s water team manages these devices as part of compliance with the new water standards, but the current bylaw does not reflect this.

Proposed changes to ordinary and extraordinary use definitions

• Clarifying inconsistency between the ordinary and extraordinary use definitions in the existing bylaw.
• The current bylaw outlines that ordinary use is use that is for residential home/dwelling use only. It then outlines a limited list of activities that are extraordinary use.
• There are several activities that do not fit clearly within the definition of ordinary use or extraordinary use that are present in the current bylaw such as community facility use. We are proposing that the extraordinary use list be a list of examples rather than a limited list. This will ensure that all activities that are not dwellings can be metered to test for consumption levels.
• In practice this means that Council can install meters on non-residential activities. However, these meters are not used for billing unless water consumption is above and beyond what an typical connection uses.

Rationale

• The current wording is unclear and doesn’t provide Council staff or the community clarity on what activities will or won’t be metered.
• This change should make it clear that any water use that is not for a residential home/dwelling use is extraordinary use and should be metered to monitor for consumption above what is allocated to the property through rates.

Proposed changes to ordinary use maximum volume

• Placing the ordinary use maximum volume in the bylaw.
• This use maximum is used as an indicator for when a connection may be using more than their fair share of water.

Rationale

• The current bylaw gives reference to an ordinary use maximum, this maximum is not easily found in other documentation. Council is proposing to place the ordinary use maximum in the bylaw so that it is clear.
• The ordinary use maximum is set based on our sustainable water consumption target which is 1.5m3 per connection per day. Connections that use more than this amount are extraordinary users.

Proposed changes to defining lifestyle block use

• Defining lifestyle block use

Rationale

• In the current bylaw this isn’t defined the definition used by council development engineer assessments is sections of 3,000m2 or larger. To reflect this, we are proposing to place the number in the bylaw to make it clear what is meant by lifestyle block use in the context of the bylaw.