Central Otago District Council is cracking down on storage containers on public land, adopting a policy to force community groups to pay a bond to ensure containers don’t end up “dumped”.

Exactly how much the bond will be is yet undecided, but staff have indicated the intent is to cover the cost of a container’s removal.

The ‘Containers on Reserves Policy’ was adopted by elected members of the council at a meeting in Cromwell on Wednesday.

They opted for the bond to be refundable, as recommended by council staff.

Parks officer Maria Burnett said staff workshopped the draft policy with community boards in November and February.

However there was no public consultation prior to the policy being adopted.

Maria told the meeting the council was seeing an increasing demand for shipping containers and similar storage structures on council parks and reserves.

She said in the past approvals had been granted on an ad hoc basis.

“This has created inconsistency across the district, visual and amenity impacts on reserves and limited ability for council to enforce conditions or require removal if a group folds or moves on,” she said.

The policy includes rules, such as requiring screening, planting or recessive colours, to reduce the “visual impact” of a container.

It also dictates a time limit - “typically up to two years” with “clear expectations around renewal, maintenance and removal”, Maria said.

“Importantly, the policy signals a clear long-term transition away from individual containers and towards a shared or integrated storage solution,” she said.

“Containers are generally discouraged and will only be permitted when no practical alternative exists and shared options have been explored.”

Teviot Valley councillor Curtis Pannett queried the two-year time limit, noting the cost to community groups of upgrading containers and landscaping to help them blend in.

Staff said there would be ongoing dialogue with groups around extensions, “but it’s not guaranteed”.

Vincent councillor and deputy mayor Tracy Paterson challenged some of the language from staff suggesting containers were ‘private use’ at the expense of ‘public space’.

She asked for confirmation none of the containers in question actually belonged to individuals - and received it.

“Okay, so it is all actually community groups, clubs, etc,” she said.

Tracy wondered how the policy would be received considering “some of those containers have been on reserves for a very, very long time”.

Staff said they will be contacting groups that have containers on public land as a next step and telling them about the policy change.

The policy covers shipping containers as well as prefabricated and portable buildings used for storage on council reserves.

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