This bylaw helps people enjoy Auckland’s public places. It includes rules about behaviour in public places, such as restrictions for fires, fireworks, drones, camping in tents and fishing.
Ngā ture ā-rohe noho āhuru tūmatanui, hōhā noa rānei Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw 2013
What the Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw does
This bylaw contains rules about:
Bad behaviours in any public place
- Wilfully obstructing, disturbing or harming any other person in a public place.
- Using any item or object recklessly or in a way that could be dangerous, cause injury or nuisance to any person in a public place.
- Placing, leaving, abandoning or repairing any object, material or structure in a public place that is likely to cause a safety risk, nuisance or interference to any person in a public place.
Use of public places under control of the council
A person must comply with any restrictions on the use of public places under control of the council (for example at parks, beaches and public squares) relating to:
- aircraft
- boats
- building or construction materials, equipment and amenities
- building, structures and tents
- consumer goods
- fences
- fires
- fireworks, flares of explosive materials
- gates or doors
- shipping or storage containers
- soil, rock, shingle, shell, sand, vegetation, material, object or other naturally occurring thing
- UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), including drones
- vegetation
- weapons, traps or instruments of a dangerous nature
- recreational fishing, including set netting
- surfcasting.
Restricting access to a public place under control of the council
The council may restrict or close entry to the whole (or part) of any council-controlled public places to:
- protect flora, fauna, land, structures and infrastructure from damage
- protect public health and safety
- allow for maintenance
- allow exclusive use for any group or specified activity.
What the Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw does not cover
- Activities and behaviours in public places that are part of the Auckland transport system. This is regulated by the Auckland Transport Activities in the Road Corridor Bylaw 2022.
- This bylaw does not apply to any matter addressed in any other bylaw made by the council, or any bylaw made by Auckland Transport or the Maunga Authority.
- Activities regulated by central government legislation including car window washing, mind-altering (psychoactive) substances, graffiti, noise, fish offal, gates in parks, fireworks in non-public places and street names and property numbering.
- Issues about animals, signage, stormwater and traffic which are contained in other existing bylaws dedicated to those topics.