Bylaw has been adopted by Council

We received 63 submissions in total during the consultation period and four submitters spoke at a Council hearing on 7 October 2024.

The Committee considered public feedback and deliberated on the proposed Bylaw on 7 October 2024. All written and verbal submissions were carefully considered and the feedback received helped shape Council’s final decisions.

The final adopted Keeping of Animals Bylaw 2024 can be found on our website:

www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/bylaws

Decisions following consultation

1. Defining our urban, lifestyle and rural areas

• Council consulted on a proposal to amend the definition of rural, lifestyle, and urban in the proposed Bylaw. The proposed change required all properties at or below 1,500m to be classified as urban, and to use zones from the most recent version of our district plan.
• However, Council decided to use only district plan zones to define urban, lifestyle and rural areas across the entirety of the district, with Huntly as an exception.
• Huntly includes properties within the centre of town zoned as General Rural due to mine subsidence risk. These properties are relatively small (under 1500m2) and are close to urban properties.
• As a result, Council has classified properties at or under 1500m2 in Huntly as urban. See Map 1 and 2 in the bylaw to see if this applies to you.
• To find out what zone your property is in, refer to: eplan.waikatodistrict.govt.nz and Schedule 1 in the proposed Bylaw.

2. Bees

• Council decided to allow dense hedging and walls to act as a suitable barrier to direct the flight path of bees, in addition to fencing. This is because dense hedging and walls can also direct the flight path of bees, minimising nuisance caused by bees.
• Council also agreed to remove the rule requiring beehives to be set back from property boundaries, if there are suitable barriers in place to direct the flight path of bees.
• The Bylaw now allows Council to provide written approval for a person to keep bees on properties smaller than 500m², to allow beehives to be kept on smaller properties when appropriate.
• As proposed through consultation, Council also reduced how far a beehive must be set back from a property boundary in lifestyle and rural areas. This was to allow for more choice around how land isutilised where properties are larger and nuisance from bees is less likely to be an issue.

3. Poultry

• As proposed through consultation, Council decided to remove the rule requiring poultry houses to be 10m from any dwelling, factory, or building. This rule was considered overly restrictive and other rules are in place to manage nuisance.

4. Pigs

• No changes

5. Horses

• No changes

6. Cats

• Council decided to include a new advisory note encouraging cat owners to de-sex their cats by four months of age, microchip, and register their cats on the New Zealand Companion Animal Register. This note does not form part of the Bylaw and is not enforceable by Council.
• As proposed, the Bylaw now clarifies that cats are not required to beconfined to the boundaries of a property.

Any questions

Email consult@waidc.govt.nz

Council is proposing a new Keeping of Animals Bylaw 2024. The proposed Bylaw 2024 aims to set clear rules around how best to keep animals to minimise nuisance and reduce health and safety risks.

The proposed Bylaw has been approved for public consultation, and Council is seeking community feedback.

For complete information, please refer to the:

• Statement of Proposal
• Proposed Bylaw
• Proposed maps of our urban, lifestyle and rural areas

Reasons for the proposed Bylaw
The proposed Bylaw enables Council to manage animal nuisance issues. Our team at Council have reviewed Council complaint data from July 2018 to July 2023 and found the following key findings:

1. Total complaints received for animal nuisance issues were 363 (excluding dogs).

2. Roosters are the most complained about animal, due to noise, followed by chickens, due to roaming and noise.

3. The most common complaint type is noise, followed by roaming.

4. Most complaints come from our urban areas.

5. Just over one third (37%) of complaints received about roosters were from people living in rural areas.

Early engagement feedback

Council also asked for your feedback on the Keeping of Animals Bylaw previously through an early engagement online survey. We received 306 responses.

This showed that 33% of respondents have experienced animal-related nuisance issues. 116 comments from the online survey show that cats and roosters cause the most nuisance across our district followed by chickens, cows, and pigs.

Proposed changes to the Bylaw

Council is proposing changes to the 2015 version of the Bylaw (adopted in 2021) to align with new plans, adjust restrictive rules, and provide clarity.

Key proposal 1: Amend the definition of rural, lifestyle, and urban areas. This is to use the Proposed District Plan zones (instead of Council's Operative District Plan) and require all properties at or below 1,500m2 (0.15 hectares) to classify as urban.

To see your property area, refer to the maps.

Key proposal 2: No further rules for cats and clarify that cats are not required to be confined to owner’s properties.

Key proposal 3: Remove the rule requiring poultry houses to be 10m from any dwelling, factory, or building (clause 7.5(a).

Key proposal 4: Reduce beehive setbacks for lifestyle and rural areas.

Minor changes

For details on minor changes, please refer to the Statement of Proposal.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at consult@waidc.govt.nz.