Circulars

What’s new or changing

• The Boat Trailer Impounding Guidelines (the Guidelines) provide information for authorised impounding officers about the exercise of functions under the Impounding Act 1993 regarding the enforcement of provisions relating to impounding unattended boat trailers.

What this will mean for your council

• The Guidelines only apply to those councils that have declared boat trailer impounding areas, the details of which can found at www.olg.nsw.gov.au/boattrailers (updated by https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/council-circulars/21-39-public-spaces-unattended-property-bill-2021/).
• Other councils considering adopting the powers are encouraged to review the Guidelines, which describe the Government’s expectations regarding community consultation prior to adopting the powers and provide an overview of the process for declaring areas.

Key points

• The Guidelines:
  • provide further clarification on the intent of the legislation with respect to the movement of boat trailers;
  • reinforce that a council’s approach to enforcement of the powers should be fair and reasonable, and in-line with specified enforcement principles;
  • encourage all councils to have a publicly available boat trailer impounding policy to increase transparency in enforcement, and
  • encourage the use of signage to inform members of the public of the existence of declared areas and the legislative requirements.

Where to go for further information

• Councils should contact the Policy Team, Office of Local Government on 02 4428 4100 for further information.

Penny Holloway
Acting Chief Executive