Parking

Response

Sent: Friday, 14 August 2026 11:40am

Subject: Official Information Request - Parking

I refer to your Official Information request of 1 July 2026, that an extension of time was given till 14 August, for information regarding Parking.

Question:

A copy of the Council resolution approving the new CBD parking rules and parking system changes.

Answer:

• Confidential minutes and report from the 25 March Council meeting (public excluded session) that have now been released are on Councils website HERE.
• Information from the 20 May 2026 Council meeting is available on Councils’ website Council Meeting - 20/05/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council that includes:
  • The Agenda
  • The Attachment – Item 12.1 Proposed Parking Fees
  • The Minutes
  • The Presentation – Parking Services Project – Fees and Layout Endorsement

Question:

A copy of all Council reports, staff reports, briefing papers, recommendations, meeting minutes, and supporting documents relating to the parking changes.

Answer:

• Information from the 9 July 2025 Community and District Development Committee meeting is available on Councils’ website Community and District Development Committee - 09/07/2025 - Rotorua Lakes Council that includes:
• The Agenda – Report contained in this for Parking Services – Contract Status and Tender Approach
• The Minutes
• The Presentation – Parking Services Review
• There was an informal Parking Contract discussion held 1 December 2025. An email invite was sent to all Councillors.
• Information from the 10 December 2025 Council meeting is available on Councils’ website Council Meeting - 10/12/2025 - Rotorua Lakes Council that includes:
  • The Agenda
  • The Minutes
  • The Presentation – Parking Policy & Bylaw Update
  • The Attachment – Attachments under separate cover, which contains the below 6 Parking related reports:
    • Draft Performance Based Parking Management Practices - Policy Tracked changes
    • Draft Parking policy Clean
    • Draft Traffic Bylaw 2025 Tracked changes
    • Draft Traffic Bylaw Clean
    • Draft Parking Management Guidelines Clean
    • Draft Statement of Proposal Parking - Policy, Bylaw and Inner-City Parking reviews
• There was a Parking Process Update report included as part
• Confidential minutes from the 10 December 2025 Council meeting (public excluded session) that have now been released are on Councils website HERE.
• There was an Informal update on Ongoing Parking update on 12 December 2025. This was an internal meeting.
• Information from the Council Hearing 24 February 2026 is available on Councils’ website Council Hearing - 24.02.2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council that contains:
• There was an Informal update on Parking Progress discussion held on 11 March 2026. An email invite was sent to all Councillors.
• There was an Informal update on Parking discussion held on 17 March 2026. The following Councillors were invited to this meeting – Cnr Kai Fong, Cnr Brown, Cnr Paterson, Cnr Sandford and Cnr Barker.
• Information from the 25 March 2026 Council meeting is available on Councils website Council Meeting - 25/03/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council that contains:
• Information from the 20 May 2026 Council meeting is available on Councils’ website Council Meeting - 20/05/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council that contains:
• Confidential minutes and report from the 20 May 2026 Council meeting (public excluded session) that have now been released are on Councils website HERE.
• Information from the 24 June 2026 Council meeting is available on Councils’ website Council Meeting - 24/06/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council that contains:

Question:

A copy of all public consultation documents, consultation feedback, submissions, survey results, and analysis of submissions received in relation to the parking changes.

Answer:

• The Full Submissions Catalogue (Redacted ) on Parking- Policy, Bylaw and Inner-City Parking Reviews is available on Councils website Council Meeting - 25/03/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council
• Please also see documents 3.1 – 3.5 in the link provided below.

Question:

A breakdown of the 547 submissions received, including:

• how many supported the changes;
• how many opposed the changes;
• how many supported only some parts of the changes;
• the key concerns raised by submitters.

Answer:

• Information from the 25 March 2026 Council meeting is available on Councils website Council Meeting - 25/03/2026 - Rotorua Lakes that includes:
• The Attachments of Council Meeting - Wednesday, 25 March 2026 The Summary of Submissions themes not directly related to the Proposed Parking Policy 2026, Traffic Bylaw 2026, and Proposed Parking Management Guidelines 2026, are located on page 81 of the document.
• The AGENDA | Council Meeting | 25 March 2026 | The report Proposed Traffic Bylaw 2026 and Proposed Parking Policy 2026 Adoption contains a submission summary on page 23

Question:

Any business case, financial modelling, revenue forecast, budget estimate, or cost-benefit analysis prepared in relation to the new parking system.

Answer:

Question:

Any assessment of the impact of the parking changes on Rotorua CBD businesses, customers, visitors, workers, elderly people, disabled/mobility users, and people who may not be comfortable using parking apps or digital systems.

Answer:

Please see documents 7.1 - 7.10 provided in the link below.

Question:

Any assessment, report, or advice on whether requiring number plate registration for the free first hour could cause confusion or unfair infringement notices.

Answer:

The decision to require registration to claim your first free hour of parking in zone 1 was derived from verbal advice from other Council's (most frequently Hamilton City Council (HCC)) and our previous parking provider in relation to how to improve compliance levels and consistency in enforcement. This approach was also recommended by our Technology supplier as the preferred way to accurately enforce.

Parkers are required to obey all relevant regulatory signs. The regulatory signs in Zone 1 do not mention the free first hour. Users are advised of the first free hour and can claim it when they go to a machine, pay on the app or use a virtual meter to attempt to pay for their parking.

Please see document 8.1 provided in the link below and note:

• Please note at this document reflects a point in time only where Council were actively working through how Council would display the first free hour and any subsequent paid top up on the meter screens. This was aimed at lessening the chance that users could become confused when paying by card if they chose to top up (pay for further parking) before the free first hour that they had registered their license plate against had actually expired. This was due to how the meter screen displayed the pro-rata component at that time which was later refined and resolved by Orikan working in conjunction with Council.

Please see documents 8.2 provided in the link below and note:

• This reflects the learnings Council took from HCC regarding signs they installed on their virtual meters to assist people in recognising that these provide an additional way to register your license plate to claim your first free hour. HCC reinforced the need for continuing public communications with about this requirement to assist with the change in parking behaviour which is why this element remains a focus.

Question:

A copy of the enforcement policy, grace-period policy, internal guidance, or staff instructions relating to the new parking rules from 1 July 2026.

Answer:

The 10-minute grace period simply reflects the staff instruction which is applied during monitoring and enforcement by Parking Wardens. It is also checked by Parking Adjudication staff when an infringement is appealed. This grace period is not new as it was carried over from previous parking services practices and has been included in recent public communications by Council.

Question:

The number of complaints, objections, enquiries, or negative feedback received by Council about the new parking rules since they were announced, including from 1 July 2026 onwards.

Answer:

Please find link to Councils Facebook page Here.

Please find documents 10.1 -10.2 contained in the link below.

Please note – This search does not include any complaints, objections, enquiries, or negative feedback received to individual email address within Council.

Locating this information would require Council to undertake a comprehensive search of individual email accounts, followed by the review and collation of any relevant material. Given the substantial time and resources this would involve, Council may impose a charge for providing this information.

Question:

A copy of any communication plan, signage plan, public education plan, or media plan used to inform the public about the new parking rules.

Answer:

Please see documents 11.1 – 11.5 contained in the link below.

Question:

Any legal advice or legal review obtained in relation to the new parking rules, including whether the rules comply with relevant legislation, bylaws, consultation obligations and principles of fairness. If Council claims legal privilege over any legal advice, please provide a list of the documents withheld, including the date, author, recipient and general subject matter.

Answer:

Council refuses this portion of your request under section 7(2)(g) of the LGOIMA ‘maintain legal privilege.’

Please find documents withheld below:

Question:

Any documents showing whether Council considered alternative options, including keeping more free parking, introducing a longer grace period, reducing paid parking areas, or delaying enforcement.

Answer:

Please refer to previous links to meetings where agendas/minutes/reports/presentations are publicly available, as provided in responses above.

Question:

Any documents showing whether Council has planned a review of the new parking system after implementation, including the timing and criteria for that review.

Answer:

Information from the 20 May 2026 Council meeting is available on Councils’ website Council Meeting - 20/05/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council and this information is contained in the report 12.1 Parking services project – Fees and layout endorsement:

‘Please also note that an internal review of the effectiveness of the parking services changes is scheduled to begin six months after 1 July go-live. This will be data-led and will also incorporate any feedback received from users. The review will help to confirm whether the resulting occupation rates, and financial sustainability of the changes are aligned with Council’s expectations, and whether we are facing any sustained trends which require adjustments to be made. No other changes are intended to be made during the initial six month period as it is important that sufficient time is provided for the changes to ‘settle in’ and for the community to adjust accordingly.’

DOCUMENTS CONTAINED IN THIS LINK

Please note - that once you click on this link, the ZIP file will download to your device, and you will need to extract the documents from the ZIP file.