Good afternoon Alex
 
Thank you for your email received today.
 
We have forwarded this to our Corporate Records division to arrange a
reply. An official information request can take up to 20 days to process.
The details of our Official Information requests process are found here on
our website:

[1]http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/Get-in-touch...

If you would like more information about Hutt City Council and our
services, please ring our Customer Contact Centre on 04 570 6666 or 0800
488 824.
 
 
Kind Regards,
 
 
Carol Thompson
CUSTOMER SERVICES
 
HUTT CITY COUNCIL
30 Laings Road
Private Bag 31912
Lower Hutt 5040
New Zealand
 
w: [2]http://www.huttcity.govt.nz
e: [email address]
 
t: +64 4 570 6666 | 0800 488 824 (0800 HUTT CITY)
f: +64 4 569 4290
 
-----Original Message-----
From: "Alex Harris" <[OIA #988 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 10 July 2013 3:13 p.m.
To: "OIA requests at Hutt City Council" <[Hutt City Council request email]>
Subject: Official Information Act request - Legal advice on parking
tickets

Dear Hutt City Council,

Hutt City Council is currently engaged in a legal dispute over the
legality of parking tickets for time-restricted parking
("Parking tickets may not be legal", Stuff, 8 July 2013).
I would like to request the following information under the LGOIMA:

* all legal advice on this dispute.

In anticipation of a claim that this information can be withheld
under s7(2)(g) LGOIMA as it is subject to legal professional
privilege, I direct you to the Ombudsman's guidance about the
waiver of such privilege ("Legal Professional Privilege and
Official Information", Ombudsmna's Quarterly Review, Vol 2
Number 2, 1996, p. 1). Such privilege appears to have been
implicitly waived on at least two occasions:

* in the Stuff article cited above, councillor Margaret Cousins is
quoted as saying that "the council's legal officer had
sent out a note saying Mr O'Connor was correct, and there had
been similar issues in the past".
* In a Campbell Live interview on 9 July 2013 ("Man finds
loophole after parking ticket"), Hutt City Council chief
executive Tony Stallinger in response to a question about legal
advice on the issue said "the advice is that even though these
particular fines are not listed in a council bylaw, that the Land
Transport Regulations provide for them to be imposed". He also
referred the reporter to specific land transport rules.

Legal privilege may be implicitly waived with a statement as weak
as "I have received legal advice and acted on it"
(Cabinet Manual 4.64b). In this case, the contents of the advice
have been disclosed in some detail. This must surely constitute an
implicit waiver.

I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about
this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the
fyi.org.nz website.

Yours faithfully,

Alex Harris

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Dear Alex

 

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND
MEETINGS ACT 1987: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF REQUEST

 

I acknowledge your email received 10 July 2013 requesting all legal
advice on the current legal dispute over time-restricted parking tickets.
Your request is being processed according to the provisions of the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

 

Your request will be processed within 20 working days and you will receive
a response by 7 August 2013.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Judy Randall

 

 

IMPORTANT: The information contained in this e-mail message may be legally
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Hi Alex,

 

I refer to your official information request dated 10 July 2013,
requesting the legal advice we received on the parking ticket dispute.

 

Please find the advice attached.

 

I’ll also forward you my reply to Mr O’Connor.

 

Regards,

 

 

Bradley Cato
Solicitor

Hutt City Council, 30 Laings Road, Private Bag 31912, Lower Hutt 5040, New
Zealand
T 04 570 6880, W [1]www.huttcity.govt.nz F [2]huttcitycouncil 
 

Gold Winner of the 2011 New Zealand Business Excellence Award

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Hi Alex,

 

I refer to my email of earlier today in response to your OIR request.

 

Please see below.

 

Regards,

 

From: Bradley Cato
Sent: Wednesday, 3 July 2013 3:35 p.m.
To: [email address]
Cc: Barry Rippon; Ray Wallace
Subject: RE: [URGENT] Time Restricted Parking in Lower Hutt

 

Hi Alwyn,

 

Thank you for taking the time to set out your concerns in what is a very
impressive and comprehensive letter.  As the in-house solicitor for
Council, your letter has been forwarded to me for comment.

 

The chain of empowering legislation to final sign (using the same
references you quoted) is this:

 

The Act

 

Land Transport Act 1998:

 

A stationary vehicle offence is: Parking in any portion of a road in
breach of – (i) Any Act or regulation.

 

The regulation your breached

 

Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004:

 

Prohibits parking contrary to a sign that fulfils 3 elements being:

 

1.       Indicates that stopping is limited – YES

2.       Is on or adjacent to a road – YES

3.       Is authorised by a road controlling authority under the Land
Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices 2004 – YES (see below)

 

Land Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices 2004

 

12.4(10) A road controlling authority may restrict the parking of vehicles
be designating an area of the road to be time restricted.

 

Manner of authorisation – delegated authority

 

Under our delegations the General Manager – City Infrastructure,
Divisional Manager – Road & Traffic and a Traffic Assets Manager have all
been delegated all the functions and powers of council under the following
act, regulations and rules:

 

1.       Transport Act 1962

2.       Land Transport Act 1998

3.       And any regulations or rules made under those Acts.

 

Only certain types of restrictions are expressly authorised by the Land
Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices 2004 including time restricted
parking, angle parking, zone parking etc.  For things that are not
authorised by the Rule we use the method of bylaws, the process for which
you have set out in your letter.

 

Any questions in relation to the above, please call me and I’m happy to
discuss.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

 

 

Bradley Cato
Solicitor

Hutt City Council, 30 Laings Road, Private Bag 31912, Lower Hutt 5040, New
Zealand
T 04 570 6880, W [1]www.huttcity.govt.nz F [2]huttcitycouncil 
 

Gold Winner of the 2011 New Zealand Business Excellence Award

 

 

IMPORTANT: The information contained in this e-mail message may be legally
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message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use,
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