Rodney District Council’s Strategy and Community Committee has recommended that the Council undertake public consultation on a review of the Council’s Brothel and Commercial Sex Premises Bylaw.
The existing bylaw was adopted in 2004. It was created after the Government passed legislation to legalise prostitution and made the location of brothels and commercial sex premises a matter for Council’s to consider controlling through bylaws or District Plan rules.
Under the Local Government Act 2002, new bylaws need to be reviewed within five years of their adoption.
According to the registrar of the District Court, there are currently no certified brothels in Rodney District. The scale and visibility of home based prostitution in the District has been very low, and local police report there is no evidence of criminal offending or victimisation related to prostitution in Rodney.
Indications are that the presence of the Bylaw over the past five years has inhibited the establishment of brothels in the district.
“The Government legalised prostitution when it passed the Prostitution Reform Act in 2003, and this meant that although Council’s can control where brothels could operate, we cannot make a bylaw which would outlaw brothels from our district,” says the Council’s Social Policy Advisor, Michael Sinclair.
Proposed changes to the bylaw
The most significant change to be consulted on as part of the bylaw review is a proposal to allow small owner operated brothels to establish within 200 metres of an Industrial zoned area, provided they comply with all of the home occupation requirements in the Council’s District Plan.
This provision for small owner operated brothels allows for independent prostitutes to work from homes, providing there are no more than four living together in the same house.
The bylaw would continue to prohibit all commercial brothels from locating in any residential areas and would only allow small owner operated brothels to be set up in a narrow band of residential area if this was within 200 metres of an industrial zone.
Restrictions in the current bylaw which prevent brothels from locating within 200 metres of schools, pre-schools, churches, children’s playgrounds and other places of assembly are also retained in the revised draft bylaw. These restrictions apply to both commercial and small owner operated brothels.
Since the time the bylaw has been passed high profile court cases involving other local authorities have clarified the type of controls that Councils may place on where brothels may operate.
“Case law has indicated that Councils can place controls on the location of brothels, however these controls may not be so restrictive as to make it impossible for brothels to operate,” says Mr Sinclair. “This principle needs to be able to be applied to small owner operated brothels as well as commercial brothels. This means that the Council must identify some specific areas where home occupation can occur or the bylaw would be open to legal challenge,” he says.
The existing bylaw allows brothels to locate in industrial areas. However, as there are currently few residential properties within industrial areas, it would be extremely difficult for small owner operated brothels to locate in these zones.
The revised bylaw has been developed with input from a range of organisations such as the New Zealand Police, Voice Rodney, the Hibiscus Coast Ministers Association and Streetreach.
“The community groups we consulted expressed a strong preference for the Council to retain regulatory controls on where sex premises could operate and appreciated the importance of the need for the Council’s bylaw to be able to withstand legal challenge,” says Mr Sinclair,
“The revised bylaw is as restrictive as the current government legislation permits, and it is important to understand that, even with the minor amendments proposed in the bylaw, it is unlikely that there will be a significant expansion in the commercial sex industry in Rodney.”
He says that the community will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes in the bylaw through a public consultation process. Consultation on the revised bylaw is expected to begin in late September and further information on the revised bylaw will be available from the Council’s website at that time.
For further information and comment please contact:
Michael Sinclair
Rodney District Council
Phone 0800 426 5169