Environmental Health

Food for Sale

If you are proposing to sell food, then compliance with food legislation and specifically the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974 is required.   In short this can mean establishing a mobile kitchen, and compliance with certain food safety requirements is appropriate.   It is also important to note that the regulations require that travelling food shops operate in connection with a registered food premises.    For further information please contact the Environmental Health Officer at the Council offices.

Registration of Premises

The Food Hygiene Regulations 1974 require food premises to be registered before food can be prepared, manufactured or sold.   It is an offence to operate unregistered food premises.   To obtain a Certificate of Registration, the premises must be checked by the Council's Environmental Health Officer to ensure they meet the required standards.

Council will send out a reminder letter and application form before the due date each year for existing registered premises.   Council requires at least two annual inspections during the year.   Council's Environmental Health Officer will arrange inspections at convenient times for you.

The current certificate must be displayed on the premises in public view.

If you are looking into buying an existing food business, check with Council before finalising any purchase agreement.   You should be aware of any non-complying aspects and what is required to rectify them, otherwise you could find yourself responsible for the cost of upgrading the premises.   Once you become the owner, it becomes your responsibility to ensure that the premises comply. 

If you are planning new food premises or alterations to existing premises, talk to Council's Environmental Health Officer early on.   There are a number of health standards to be met and Council can guide you through these.   Aside from the legal requirements, well-designed food premises will be easier to work in, easier to keep clean and in the long run be cheaper to term.

For further information, contact the Environmental Health Officer, Kawerau District Council, Ph (07) 306 9009.

Noise Control

The Resource Management Act provides for:

• The protection of people from unreasonable or excessive noise.
• Effective noise control in our Community.
• The protection of people and industry to make a reasonable level of noise and
• The public, the Local Authority and the Police to work together to control noise.

Everyone is responsible for the noise he/she makes.

The Act points out that it is your duty not to make noise that disturbs or upsets other persons. Please remember that Kawerau has many people working shifts who sleep during the day.

Council Policy:

Kawerau District Council has adopted the following policy on Noise Control:

Council policy is that residents are entitled to enjoy an environment that, as far as practicable, is free from unreasonable or excessive noise; that in cases of unreasonable or excessive noise the strongest possible action is taken to reduce/remove the noise and prevent a recurrence of any noise situation.

To give effect to this policy, the following procedures have been adopted:

Council has engaged a contractor to act as an Enforcement Officer under the Resource Management Act 1991.

1. On receiving any noise complaint the Enforcement Officer will attend at the location of the complaint and assess whether the noise is excessive.

If the noise is excessive the Enforcement Officer will issue a noise direction requiring the noise to be stopped/reduced.  This direction will apply for 72 hours.

2. If the noise direction is ignored or breached, the Enforcement Officer, with Police assistance, may enter the premises and seize or make inoperable, the source of the noise.

3. Additionally, Council may fine those who breach noise directions up to $500 each.  This includes not only the host or person owning the equipment making the noise, but those who know about the noise direction and who are present when the direction is breached.

4. In cases where there are habitual or frequent breaches of the laws on noise, Council may obtain permanent abatement notices.  These carry the risk of higher fines (up to $10,000) if breached, and the risk of immediate seizures of equipment.

Council is not obliged to return seized equipment and generally withholds any seized equipment for 6 months.

Remember

Council cannot act on noise complaints after the event. To be effective, the noise control policy requires that noise complaints be telephoned to (07) 306 9009  while the noise is a problem.

Illegal Dumping of Rubbish

The Kawerau District Council asks that you report incidents of illegal dumping of rubbish or littering of any kind in public places, on roadsides, and parks or reserves so that follow up action may be taken.

If possible the recording of details such as the date, time, location of the offence, name of offender, witnesses, vehicle registration number will assist in our investigations.