Consistent questioning of Waikato District Council has finally revealed that the council is getting tough with Raglan’s footpath parkers. Questions by John Lawson on this subject to the council media group on FB, were rebuffed and he was told to make an enquiry under the Official Information Act. It is not known why the council regards the number of Raglan footpath parkers as restricted information.
After some delay caused by the council at first supplying information on the number of vehicles parked on yellow lines, Christine Pidduck, council’s Legal Counsel finally supplied the number parked on footpaths.
We refer to the above matter, and your request for information regarding infringement notices issued for parking on footpaths.
The number of infringements issued for parking on a footpath were:
Between 1 March 2018 and 1 March 2019 Waikato District Council issued 11 infringements.
John Lawson commented, “It seems to me they must have wasted quite a bit of staff time by treating this as an OIA, rather than just putting 11 and no into Facebook. What’s the point of having laws and bylaws if WDC penalises 11 people who probably didn’t realise they were breaking the law and ignores the great majority? The footpath parking restriction consists of two clauses hidden in a lengthy bylaw.”
With many Raglan streets being only a narrow county town width, often the only safe place to park that doesn’t obstruct other road traffic is on the footpath, on the other hand footpath parkers force mobility scooters and baby strollers onto the road. And footpaths are not strong enough to take vehicles so they break up.