Council U-turns on bald tyre proposal

Tauranga parking wardens will not be issuing tickets for cars that have dangerously bald tyres, the council decided today in a reversal of a controversial in-house staff decision.

The meeting voted 7-4 to back Councillor Rick Curach's opposition to imposing "punitive enforcement measures" but to instead issue friendly advisory notices that warned vehicle owners their cars' tyres were in a dangerous condition.

He said the issue was the community reaction to the council becoming more about being the police rather than infrastructure providers. He said it used to be just parking tickets, and then it became warrants of fitness and registration. "A lot of people are negatively affected by the council's enforcement regimes."

Cr Curach said 95 per cent of people would replace their tyres if they received a friendly notice.

He defeated a move to water down the original decision by staff that instant fines would be issued for obviously dangerous tyres. Today's council meeting was asked to approve an alternative in which the $150 fine would be waived if motorists replaced their dangerous tyres in 14 days.

Mayor Stuart Crosby backed the staff recommendation, saying the council needed to strike a balance between taking an ambassadorial approach and reducing the risk.

In response to Cr Curach saying that a lot of the community hated the council, Mr Crosby said the council should not always try to be popular but be responsible. He was not confident that the friendly approach would result in changes to an identified problem.

Councillor Clayton Mitchell said that issuing fines would be another nail [in the coffin] of the CBD as a place for people not to go. He preferred the approach of addressing the problem but putting the council in a more positive light.

Cr Curach was supported by Councillors Matt Cowley, Bev Edlin, Bill Grainger, Gail McIntosh, Clayton Mitchell and Catherine Stewart. The tickets and waiver approach was supported by Mayor Stuart Crosby and Councillors Kelvin Clout, Steve Morris and John Robson.

Based on Rotorua's experience, the council's transportation manager Martin Parkes expected that about 300 tickets for dangerous tyres would be issued each year.