With less than four weeks to go until the NSW Local Government election, candidates and their supporters are being reminded that they must comply with State and Council regulations when erecting signage.

A total of 58 candidates will contest the Tweed Shire Council election on Saturday 4 December following finalisation of the ballot sheet by the NSW Electoral Commission last week.

The candidates make up 13 grouped tickets, with two candidates running on their own as individuals.

Tweed Council said officers will undertake a program of compliance and monitoring to ensure all posters and signage containing electoral material comply with the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 Division 2, Subdivision 13 – Election signs.

As part of these regulations, election signs must be no more than 0.8 square metres in area.

No signs are allowed to be displayed on Council’s road reserves, either free-standing pole signs or those affixed to trees or street furniture. Signage is also not allowed to be displayed on a trailer parked on a road or road-related areas.

Election signs can be affixed to private telegraph poles, however the owner needs to be certain the pole is not owned by an electricity provider as legal action has occurred elsewhere in NSW.

Council officers will remove signs from public property if they are not standard-sized corflutes with appropriate content, or if they are in a dangerous location.

All signage connected to power poles will be reported to Essential Energy for their attention and action.

Signs can be attached to the walls of houses or commercial buildings, as long as they adhere to size limitations in State regulations and are not attached to heritage or draft heritage items.

Any signs that do not comply with the above rules may be impounded by Council officers and will attract a Council fee for retrieval. Any signs remaining one week after the election (11 December 2021) will be removed and impounded.

Candidates are also responsible for complying with their electoral material obligations under the Local Govenment (General) Regulation 2021. Additional information on electoral material can be found in the Candidate Handbook: 2021 Local Government Elections published by the NSW Electoral Commission.

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week – or maybe more – we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

It may also be a good idea to limit the number of signs any candidate or their “Voting blocks of candidates, that are merely in contention for preference directing”. With the history of developer backed and undisclosed “Candidates ” in Tweed Shire? With 53 candidates for only 7 positions on council, we can assume there are multiple preference setups directing to a main block candidate. Though legal it is really putting a strain on democracy and having a fair and balanced transparent election for what is only a local Govt. You have to ask, just why would people want to do this, what do they and those bankrolling this expect to gain? Beware the “Independent” preferences, it may well only be there to channel the vote, as it always does, to the usual suspects?

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

The Echo is made possible by the support of all of our advertisers.