Brothel bylaws cause local-body headaches

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Quick off the mark to decide to draft a bylaw banning brothels from residential areas, Tauranga District Council is still a long way from making it happen.

Five weeks after Parliament passed the Prostitution Reform Act by one vote in June, the council indicated that it did not want commercial sex in the suburbs.

After months of community consultation and debate, a policy forum yesterday took 90 minutes to establish that, yes, most councillors wanted brothels confined to industrial zones and the city's three main central business areas - downtown Tauranga, Mt Maunganui and Greerton.

The detail has to be worked out by staff before the draft bylaw comes back to the council, is subject to further public submissions and passed in its final form.

That, said forum chairman Stuart Crosby, could be next May.

The neighbouring Rotorua District Council will vote on its proposed bylaw before Christmas.

The Whangarei District Council is proposing a bylaw which would restrict brothel locations to the city's "business one" environment, which encompasses the central business district.

Around the country, local authorities - more used to dealing with roads, rates and rubbish collection - are struggling to come up with workable regulations.

At yesterday's Tauranga council forum, Mr Crosby said a bylaw had to be very clear, and it had to be enforceable.



Therein lay the difficulty, with councillors struggling over the vexed question of home-based prostitutes. Several seemed to take an "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" attitude about sole operators.

"That is fine if no one knows about it," said David Stewart. "But if it is sufficiently visible for people to know it is going on, then we should police it."

Bill Faulkner said he did not believe there was a problem in Tauranga.

"But we are going to create one by leaping on to it. At the moment, it has sort of found its own level."

Other councillors felt a bylaw, even though difficult to enforce, was necessary in case brothels became less discreet and attracted criminal activity.

"There is money to be made here," warned Mayor Jan Beange. "We have an obligation to the community to ensure there is a safety net in residential areas."

Brad Shipton, a former police officer, urged councillors to keep the bylaw simple when discussion got more specific about location, signage, what floor-level brothel premises should be restricted to and whether the cost of monitoring the bylaw should fall on brothels or ratepayers.

"This is only a workshop," Mr Crosby reminded them. Staff would provide options for the next consideration of the draft bylaw.


Brothel business

The Prostitution Reform Act made prostitution legal.

Local authorities have to start coming up with ways to deal with brothels, including their location and signage.