Meeting on bid for patch bylaw

Wanganui District Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday at 2pm to hear and deliberate on submissions to the draft gang patch bylaw.

The council voted in December last year to publish the draft bylaw for public submissions.

Four submissions have been received in favour of the bylaw and two against.

The bylaw bans the wearing of gang colours and insignia in public places.

This is the second time the council has gone through the gang patch bylaw process.

The first bylaw, which became law in September 2009, was declared invalid.

The Hells Angels gang had sought a judicial review of the ban. They argued the bylaw, banning the wearing of gang insignia in public in Wanganui, was invalid.

In March 2011, Justice Denis Clifford said he had reached the same conclusion.

The bylaw did not specify to which public places the ban applied to and was, therefore, invalid under national law.

"The bylaw applies to the liquor ban area in the CBD, 19 main parks and six suburban shopping precincts," said Stuart Hylton, the council's senior policy adviser.

The new bylaw also includes the Rebels, a gang which recently established a presence in Wanganui.

During the 18 months the bylaw was in place, 12 arrests were made resulting in 10 convictions.