The most significant change to the new Brothel Bylaw 2024 will be an increase in the area permitted for brothels in both Queenstown and Wānaka.

In Wānaka, brothels are permitted currently in the two blocks of the CBD closest to the lake (bordered by Ardmore, Dungarvon and Dunmore Streets and Bullock Creek). 

Under the updated bylaw this area will be expanded an additional two blocks, extending the new boundary through to the edge of Brownston Street.

An updated draft Brothel Bylaw, including provisions for this expanded area of activity, was presented to councillors at yesterday’s (Thursday August 1) full council meeting and adopted in a unanimous decision.

Other minor changes to the bylaw recommended by a council appointed hearings panel were also adopted by councillors at the meeting in the Lake Wānaka Centre. 

These covered amendments to the bylaw’s purpose and location of brothels below ground level.

The panel (comprising QLDC councillors Cody Tucker, Melissa White, Craig Ferguson and Gavin Bartlett) received the written and oral submissions at its hearing on June 25, 2024.

Regarding the option to support an extended area of permitted activity, hearing panel chair Cody Tucker said the panel was faced with a challenge.

Concerns had been raised in public submissions during the initial stages of the bylaw review in 2023 that QLDC’s bylaw areas of permitted activity were too restrictive, potentially opening it to a legal challenge under the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 (PRA).

To address these concerns, the draft 2024 bylaw proposed extending the permitted areas to allow more opportunities for brothel activity.

But in contrast to the initial submissions, the majority of submitters to the hearing panel favoured keeping the current permitted activity areas, not extending them.

The panel “had to strike a balance between giving effect to the PRA... and the community sentiment”, Cody said, so it settled for the smaller of the proposed extensions to the permitted area.

Most of the 2017 bylaw was carried on in the 2024 version, including that brothels are not permitted within 100m of each other; advertising signage is limited; and brothel activity may occur only within the permitted activity areas.

Brothel operators, apart from small owner-operated brothels (SOOBs), are required to hold a valid brothel operator certificate, renewed annually, and brothels may be inspected by the police to ensure compliance 

There have been no registered brothels in the Queenstown Lakes District since 2013 and, even though the council has received eight complaints since 2018, QLDC has made no prosecutions under the current bylaw. 

Instead, the complaints were investigated by council but resolved by council officers explaining the restrictions under the bylaw.

All bylaws are required to be reviewed after a number of years. A minority of submitters said they preferred to repeal the Brothel Bylaw altogether and regulate brothels as a commercial activity instead under the District Plan.

That option was put to councillors but didn’t gain sufficient support.

The draft Brothel Control Bylaw 2024 will come into effect on September 1, 2024.