Nick Smith: Nelson Mayor on the proposed sandwich board ban

Nelson's proposed sandwich board ban is being viewed as a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. 

The city council's looking at banning the signs, requiring businesses to have a resource consent to display them in a public place. 

One sandwich board is allowed under existing rules. 

Mayor Nick Smith told Mike Hosking it's not something he supports but acknowledges boards can create issues for the disabled community. 

He says the odd retailer has multiple signs, and the council could go harder on rule enforcement. 

A final recommendation will be considered in September. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's a sandwich board brew haha in Nelson. Nelson are
looking at banning them. The disabled community say they block
foot paths. Retailers say the rakia who attracting punters. Of course,
it's the old debate Nelson. Mandick Smith is with us, Nick,
how are you very well? Thank you Mike good with
Where did this come from? Because this is not a
new debate in general, is it?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
No, it's not. I've got a number of counselors that
felt very passionate about it, wanted to put the proposal
up for consultation to ban the sandwich boards. It's particularly
poorly timed in that retailer is not just a Nelson
through the countrary are having a particularly tough winter. Nelson
just booms in summer, but it is a hard drag

(00:40):
in winter, and so it's not been helpful to the
mood of our retail community.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
So where do we go with us? What are you
doing well?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
We had a hearings panel this week and the retailers
have come out pretty strongly opposed to the proposed ban.
That hearings panel will report back to council in September.
I'm certainly not one of those that will be supporting
the ban. There's a bit of an issue of the
current by law allows one sandwich board and the blind

(01:08):
and disabled community, you've got a fear right there is
the odd real tailor has two or three flag signs
and two three signs when they're only other sandwich boards
when they're only allowed one. Council needs to tidy up
a little bit of the enforcement. But this is just
a classic case of the sort of sledgehammer trying to
crack the nut. There's sort of this unhealthy culture that

(01:28):
worries me, not just a Nelson, but across New Zealand
of excessive risk adversity and doesn't matter whether it's the
one hundred road cones when ten would do the job,
or the thirty kilometer blanket urban speed limit, just councils
and regulators wanting to try and solve every problem, remove
any risk, and not really understanding the damage that does

(01:51):
to business in the economy at a time when actually
we need to wake up to these costs.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Couldn't agree more. Very well, said you in the prize
for the best interview of the morning. Then Nick nex
Smith Nelson, I'm not that I haven't enjoyed all the
other interviews, but what a brilliant way of putting it,
Nick Smith. The Nelson Mare almost as though he's wasted
and Nelson could be on the national scene again. For
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