Poll-sign vandalism spree seen as worst ever

More than a dozen election signs belonging to National Tauranga MP Simon Bridges have been "smashed to pieces" in a vandalism spree.

Hoardings throughout the Bay of Plenty took a hammering over the weekend, with candidates and Tauranga City Council staff noting more damage than at any other time in the lead-up to the election this weekend.

Signs for Mr Bridges were vandalised throughout the city but mostly in the Tauranga south area.

"On the whole it hasn't been terribly bad but this last weekend has been the worst we've had. We've had well over a dozen large signs completely smashed to pieces," Mr Bridges said.

"It was clear it was an orchestrated attack but we've got them back up and we will continue to do so until the election."

Mr Bridges joined a team of volunteers in repairing and replacing the signs yesterday morning.

"I think what a lot of people won't realise is these aren't paid people. These are people who put in hundreds of hours volunteering their time, including me."

Mr Bridges did not take the damage personally but was disappointed.

"I know a lot of people think they [hoardings] are annoying but they are an important part of our democracy and have been for a very long time."

Tauranga City Council usually deals with any complaints relating to electoral hoardings.

Bylaws officer Paul Mason said there had been another 10 complaints about candidates' signs since the Bay of Plenty Times ran a story on hoardings just before August.

The complaints related to the location of candidates' signs.

"Some residents rang up saying they were having difficulty coming out of their driveway because their vision was obstructed," Mr Mason said.

Mr Mason said the council had not received any complaints about damage but he was aware of instances anecdotally.

He had advised candidates of damaged or vandalised signs about five times from two weekends ago.

"There was quite a few damaged from quite a few different parties from what I understand."

Labour Tauranga candidate Rachel Jones said she and her team were pleasantly surprised they had not suffered as much vandalism as they had expected.

"We haven't been too bad. We found one smashed up to bits on Vale St [yesterday] but other than that we've been pretty good," she said.

Conservative Tauranga candidate Nathaniel Heslop could not be reached for comment before the paper went to print.

Council rules

• These rules from Tauranga City Council's Street Use and Public Places Bylaw (clauses 7 and 8) apply to general election signs:

• No sign shall be placed within 6m of an intersection or roundabout as measured from intersecting road boundaries.

• Signs attached beneath street verandas shall have a minimum of 2.5m clearance from the footpath below.

• Temporary signs shall not be attached in any way to poles, fences, street furniture or other public utilities or on any public place without the written permission of council.

• Council may require the owner or user of any non-complying, unsafe sign to remove the offending sign from any public place.

- Tauranga City Council