We’re proposing to allow only one street sign (max 1m x 1m sandwich board) per business premise unless a permit is issued. Currently the rule is that signs less than 1.0m x 1.0m x 0.7m don’t need a permit and there is no control over the number of signs.

This proposed change allows the business to advertise but prevents the streets being cluttered with too many signs for people to avoid.

We have five proposals here. These aren’t major changes, but they look sensible to us.

1. We want to designate ‘loading zones’ to be used for the pick-up or drop-off of passengers, not just goods. This will make enforcement easier.

2. We want the ability to designate parking areas for emergency vehicles on any roads, not just outside their premises. This will enable us to respond to any requests from emergency services for parking areas.

3. We have all seen examples of people doing U-turns in dumb places, so we’re proposing that Council has the authority to designate where U-turns are not allowed. For road safety reasons we think this is the right thing to do and it brings us into line with most other districts and cities that have this ability.

4. We want the ability to designate ‘cycle paths’. These are paths that can be used only by cyclists and mobility devices, but not pedestrians (for safety reasons). We already have the ability to designate ‘shared paths’ (for use of pedestrians, scooters and cyclists) but we want to ensure that we have the flexibility to enable cycle paths to be created where appropriate too.

5. We want to clarify that Council has the power to designate parts of parks and reserves to be used by vehicles (including cycles), and designate skate paths.

We’re also proposing some changes that will tidy up the Bylaw. We’re proposing to:

1. clarify that parking on berms is prohibited

2. add to the purpose of the Bylaw so our existing rules for managing light vehicles (that’s every day cars) give the Police stronger powers of enforcement where street racing and cruising are causing problems

3. remove repetition in the Bylaw and make it easier to read

4. remove rules that are covered elsewhere in national legislation. No need to cover them twice, and it shortens the Bylaw (phew!)

5. amend and clarify some of the definitions of terms used in the Bylaw (e.g. including reserves in the definition of ‘park’, ‘mobile trading’ and ‘shared path’)

6. clarify the restrictions applying to Victoria Bridge, Cambridge

7. take out of the Bylaw the current Schedules that deal with permits and conditions. Doing this will enable greater flexibility for updates to be made to conditions without making a formal Bylaw amendment, and to enable flexibility to agree new conditions in individual cases.