WITH abandoned trolleys to be found across the municipality, one councillor has said it might be time for the City of Ballarat to update its policy on the issue.<\/p>\n
The City\u2019s current trolley rules come under Community Local Law 2017, and Cr Ben Taylor said it\u2019s time to look into the six-year-old rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s worthwhile now. We\u2019ve been through COVID and that\u2019s caused a few concerns around how people utilise equipment especially around shopping centres,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, as we see the shopping trolleys starting to break loose and get out there in the community, it\u2019s worth reviewing what options are available.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the meantime, council can reinforce what needs to be done which is that the businesses that have the trolleys need to pick them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe they need to look at how those organisations can work better to do that because they do make the city pretty messy and it\u2019s not good when they end up in waterways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local Law 37, which covers trolleys, prohibits their abandonment on roads and vacant or municipal-owned land, while the company\u2019s responsible for them must ensure collection.<\/p>\n
Trolley abandoners and owners who fail to collect them can receive a maximum of 10 penalty units which Cr Taylor said equates to about a $10 fine.<\/p>\n
He also said he couldn\u2019t think of a time when the penalty has been enforced on owners since the law\u2019s adoption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the issue at the moment. We need to make sure when we have any penalty it needs to be enforced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t recall when something like that\u2019s been enforced on businesses for not picking them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe council doesn\u2019t have a proper mechanism in place to do it either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to the current local law, the municipality adopted a policy in 2012 mandating coin-operated trolleys throughout the city, which Cr Taylor said was ineffective.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is that coin-operating hasn\u2019t really worked, even when we did have that law in place trolleys would still end up all over the city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember at the time I drove down Gillies Street and counted about 24 to 30 trolleys along there even when they were supposed to be coin-operated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cr Taylor said a lot of the onus should be on stores to implement their own solutions preventing abandonment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there should be some responsibility back on the owners of the trolleys because then they might look into some other systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know some new shopping centres have different devices on the trolleys that will only work with proximity of the centre so they can\u2019t go past certain boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s different technology out there and the onus needs to be back on the owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember years ago too the cost to make a trolley was about $800. I think now they\u2019re only about $180 dollars or something, so maybe businesses think they\u2019re a bit more disposable.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber one for council is to review it so the businesses are more responsible to go pick them up and if not, penalise accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WITH abandoned trolleys to be found across the municipality, one councillor has said it might be time for the City of Ballarat to update its policy on the issue. The City\u2019s current trolley rules come under Community Local Law 2017, and Cr Ben Taylor said it\u2019s time to look into the six-year-old rule. \u201cI think […]<\/p>\n