Horotiu boy racer torment prompts vehicle ban proposal for Northgate Business Park
Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Street racers have been caught on camera having sex and taking drugs outside a Horotiu property, and the owner doubts a new council crackdown nearby would make a difference.
Kelvin Baker, who owns Westside Engineering on Ruffell Road, said he’s sick of finding used condoms outside his home and business.
Problems in the area have prompted Waikato District Council to look at an overnight boy racer ban in Horotiu’s Northgate Business Park to cover the worst-affected spots. A similar approach has been used on some of the Waipā District’s rural roads.
After recent incidents in Horotiu - and a request from the police - Waikato District Council is proposing to ban light motor vehicles from “cruising” certain areas. It would apply to sections of Holmes Rd and Kohia Drive, as well as Spence Way, Evolution Drive and Innovation Way, between 9pm and 4am.
The cul-de-sac where Baker lives and works wouldn’t be covered by the ban but has become a favourite target of boy racers. He said racing wasn’t the only problem.
He’d seen people taking drugs, having sex and being violent, including brandishing weapons like guns, all caught on camera outside his home.
“Council say call the police, and the police say it’s a council problem.”
He said he’d tried to work with council, but the problem hadn’t gone away after a sign was put up saying the road was closed to non-residents during the night. Plus he said he’d had to fix the sign himself after it was vandalised.
He felt giving the police more powers was a good idea, but only if they could respond.
“The problem is there’s not enough of them.”
The district council’s Policy and Regulatory Committee heard “overwhelmingly positive” submissions on the proposed bylaw schedule change on Tuesday and voted in favour of adopting the schedule changes.
Horotiu resident Ross Mutton said he was pleased the council was making moves.
“At least they’re giving it a shot.”
After eight years living with the issue, he said he was “frustrated”, and believed cameras were the best option.
Mutton said there had been multiple meetings with the police, and phone calls to report anti-social behaviour, but police were slow to respond, or needed more information than he was able to give.
“I ring them and they don’t come down.”
“You’ve got to wait for them to come from Huntly, they won’t come from Hamilton.
“We just never see them.”
Mutton said in the early days, there’d be 100 cars down at the intersection on a Friday night, but more recently it was the excessive speeds on 50kph roads, and the “ripping up” of the ground and littering in the new subdivisions.
“They just make a mess. It’s shocking.”
The light vehicle ban is not intended to impact on residents or legitimate use of the roads, the council said.
Bylaw legislation would allow NZ Police to move people on if they are gathering on roads and causing nuisance to residents, and it also gives the police powers to gather information through the use of cameras and issue infringement and trespass notices.
Committee chairperson and Newcastle-Ngāruawāhia ward councillor Janet Gibb said anti-social driving had been an issue in the area for 11 years, and previous councillors could never find a solution.
“We are hoping this… is going to assist.”
Waikato District Council policy advisor Toby McIntyre said it was possible the bylaw would be a police “whack-a-mole”, pushing the issue into another area, but it would be a good “test site” of the tool.