Holiday accommodation rules up for discussion

Rotorua Lakes Council building. PHOTO/FILE

Issues around an increase in Bookabach-type holiday accommodation in Rotorua will be discussed by elected members at a Rotorua Lakes Council annual plan forum tomorrow. In a release posted on its website, the council said the issue of short-term accommodation such as those advertised on Bookabach and Airbnb was an issue other councils had also been dealing with in recent years.

The release said there were now at least 500 of these types of properties in the Rotorua district, many in residential areas.

It said staff had been investigating options to protect the public from potential negative impacts during the past few months. There were also potential impacts on infrastructure such as wastewater.

Former mayoral candidate Reynold Macpherson described Airbnbs and Bookabachs as "the new Lumbercube".

"Residents and ratepayers in Tihiotonga and other suburbs are suffering from noise, parking, overcrowding and behaviour problems around short-term rentals."

He said in his view community values were clashing with entrepreneurial business values, "with local governance lagging behind in its duty to regulate behaviours in the public good".

It will be discussed by councillors at the second annual plan forum, however it is not open to the public. The ideas, in the draft annual plan, will then go out to the public.

The forums are preliminary discussions to help develop the draft 2017/18 Annual Plan

The 2017/18 Annual Plan will be year three of the 2015-2025 Long Term Plan which was adopted by the council in July 2015.

Topics discussed during annual plan forums included rates and rating differentials, services, project progress and local issues.

The first forum for the 2017/18 Annual Plan was last week with rating the key topic for discussion. Wastewater will be a focus of a third forum scheduled for next week, with projects discussed at a fourth.