25 May 2017

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Christchurch City Council will continue to work with other agencies to find non-regulatory ways to resolve the issues caused by street-based sex work.

At the same time it will investigate adding a new clause to the Public Places Bylaw that would regulate the location of street-based sex work away from residential areas.

The Council also nominated Councillors Deon Swiggs and Pauline Cotter and a representative from the Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board to join an inter-agency working group that meets on a regular basis to share information and respond to the issues arising from street-based sex work activity.

The interagency group will have the chance to discuss bylaw options ahead of a report being presented to the Council’s Regulatory Performance Committee by the end of September.

Before the earthquakes Christchurch’s street-based sex workers worked mainly on Manchester St, south of Bealey Ave, but following the 2011 earthquakes they have moved to working in the residential areas of Manchester St, north of Bealey Ave.

That has led to ongoing complaints from some residents who say they are tired of the noise, the litter, the offensive behaviour, and the damage to their property. Some of these residents have been pushing for the Council to look at regulatory options, such as a bylaw.

At the start of today’s Council meeting the Council heard several deputations in relation to the issues caused by street-based sex work.

Duncan Webb, a lawyer acting for some of the  Manchester St residents who live north of Bealey Ave, told the Council the sex work activity was not abating and it was impacting significantly on the lives of the people who lived on Manchester St.

“They have been pressing for years for this problem to be addressed,’’ Mr Webb said. It was a “disruptive commercial activity’’ and the Council needed to take action.

Giles and Suzanne Goulden, who lived in Manchester St until 2013, said they had been abused, threatened, jostled and physically assaulted by sex workers working outside their home. In the end they had opted to move because they were sick of the disruption and no longer felt safe.

“It’s very hard until you have lived through what we’ve lived through to get a real sense of the disruption to normal life,’’ Suzanne Goulden said.

The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective said they commiserated with the residents and hoped the agencies could continue to work together to get the best outcomes for everyone. They opposed a regulatory approach because it would effectively re-criminalise sex workers and potentially damage their relationship with the police.

Erica Kearse from the Salvation Army said sex workers were often “marginalised and vulnerable’’ and taking a regulatory approach would make them more so. They could become more fearful of reporting incidents of abuse or violence to the Police.

“Our hope is we can problem solve and move forward together rather than taking the backwards step of a regulatory approach,’’ Ms Kearse said.

Di Lucas and Barry Brooker from the Peterborough Village Incorporated Society said they saw sex workers as part of their community and believed the problems being experienced on Manchester St, north of Bealey Ave, would ease within the next year as the central city rebuild progressed.