General Election

Election Signs

Council administers two documents that manage the installation and use of Council land for election signs. These are the District Plan and Public Places Bylaw 2022.

Public Places Bylaw

The Public Places Bylaw allows election signs on certain reserves, road reserves and public places. These are detailed in Appendix 1 - see button below.

Prior to installing a sign at any of these locations, Council must give approval.

To obtain approval, please send details of the signs and locations to info@southwaikato.govt.nz along with the details of who in Appendix 1 approval is required from. This will ensure it gets to the right people.

District Plan

In addition to the Public Places Bylaw, election signs must also comply with the District Plan.

To be permitted i.e., no resource consent required, the sign/s must meet the following standards:

a. No more than six election signs per site. This is not per party, it means that if there are already six election signs on a site, no others are able to be installed without a resource consent;

b. Must not exceed 3m2 per side, per street frontage;

c. Can be installed up to three months prior to an election;

d. Must be removed prior to polling;

e. Adjoining 70km/h and over areas, signs are not to contain any moving images, reflective materials or be illuminated;

f. Signs must be installed in a way that maintains sightlines at intersections, bends, corner, merging traffic and vehicle crossings;

g. The owner of the sign is to ensure they are well maintained;

h. The minimum height of lettering for signs adjoining roads with speed limited of 60km/h to 80km/h is 160mm;

i. Adjoining roads with speed limits of over 50km/h, signs shall not have more than six words or 40 characters; and,

j. The height of lettering for signs adjoining roads with a speed limit of 100km/h shall be 250mm for the main message, 175mm for the property name and 125mm for the secondary message.

If a resource consent is required, further information is available on our website, or get in touch with the team via planningteam@southwaikato.govt.nz.

Other Approvals

For signs on a State Highway, approval from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) will be required. You can seek this approval by emailing environmentalplanning@nzta.govt.nz

They also have their own guidance which can be found here: General election sign guidance

Waikato Waters now owns land that was previously owned by Council and will have to provide approval for any signs installed on this land. Waikato Waters land is identified in Appendix 1.

Requests for Approval

When submitting your electoral sign proposal through to Council the details of the sign/s must include the following:

• Contact name, email and phone number of applicant;
• Site Plan showing boundaries of site and specific location of sign;
• Sign dimensions and specifications;
• Name and contact number of the installers.

It is imperative that the following are complied with:

• Electoral signs can only be placed in a public place if they comply with the locations in Appendix 1 which are from Schedule 3 of the Public Places Bylaw, with the appropriate relevant permissions.
• Electoral signs are permitted on private property with the approval of the property owner, however when a sign is erected adjacent to a state highway approval must be first obtained from NZTA.
• No signs can be placed on trailers as outlined under Clause 6.32.5 of the Public Places Bylaw which states that no sandwich board or portable sign shall be placed on a trailer or vehicle in a public place.
• Electoral signs shall not be attached in any way to poles, fences, street furniture or other public utilities on a public place.
• When planning to dig holes to install hoardings and

signs alongside roads and on other public land, it is advisable to contact the owners of cables and pipelines (eg, electricity and gas line companies) to ascertain whether any are buried in that location. You could also contact BeforeUDig on 0800 248 344 or visit www.beforeudig.co.nz.

• Council reserves the right to require the removal of signs that:

- have not been approved.
- have become damaged or unsightly.
- have not been removed before election day.

• Posts and boards are to be removed from the site and the ground reinstated by backfilling holes following the removal of the posts. Candidates shall confirm in writing the removal of hoardings and backfilling of holes in turf has been completed by emailing info@southwaikato.govt.nz
• Should removal by the owner not occur, Council will remove the sign and recover costs from the owner of the signs.
• It is imperative that Council as an organisation remains politically neutral during the election period. For this reason, election hoardings and signage (or any other promotional material, e.g., posters, flyers etc) will not be permitted in any Council office, library, pool facility, depot, treatment plants and the South Waikato Sport and Events Centre gardens, surrounds and buildings.

Appendix 1 - Public Places Bylaw Schedule 3 Locations

Appendix 1 is a list of the locations under the Public Places Bylaw (Schedule 3) that outlines public place locations that are generally be acceptable, subject to siting (site location plan). If an authority approval and/or Council department approval is required, this has been clearly outlined in the right-hand panel of the location list and approval must be obtained prior to placement.

Please view the full Appendix 1 in the Hoardings Guide.