Portable signs in town centre and mixed-use zones

You can display portable signs in town centre and mixed-use zones with some restrictions:

• You can only display one portable sign per premises.
• If your premises has direct ground floor frontage and access, you can display either a portable board or a flag sign (not both).
• All other premises in the same building can share a portable ladder board (a sign listing multiple businesses).

Your portable signs can only advertise the premises (for example, the business name) and things that you can buy or do on the premises, such as:

• services
• goods
• products
• activities
• events.

Rules for portable signs in town centre and mixed-use zones

Portable board signs

You can display your portable board sign outside your premises in these zones if:

• your premises has both direct ground floor frontage and direct ground level access
• you display either one board or one flag sign per premises (not both)
• your sign is at least 10m away from any free-standing identification signs related to the same premises
• your sign is maximum 1.2m high by 0.6m (600mm) wide by 0.46m (460mm) deep.

Portable flag signs

You can display your portable flag sign outside your premises in these zones if:

• your premises has both direct ground floor frontage and direct ground level access
• you display either one board or flag sign per premises (not both)
• your sign is at least 10m away from any free-standing identification sign related to the same premises
• your sign is a maximum 0.5m (500mm) width, 1.85m display area height, and total height of 2.2m.

Portable ladder board signs

You can display your portable ladder board sign outside your premises in these zones if:

• your premises does not have direct ground floor frontage and does not have direct ground level access
• you display only one portable ladder board sign per building for use by all premises
• your portable ladder board sign is at least 5m away from other portable ladder board signs
• your portable ladder board sign is at least 10m away from any free-standing identification sign related to the same premises
• your portable ladder board sign is a maximum of 1.5m high by 0.8m (800mm) wide by 0.46m (460mm) deep.

Portable signs on council-controlled public places

You can put your portable sign in a council-controlled public place (for example a public footpath) in certain circumstances.

When you place your portable sign, think about pedestrian access and in particular visually impaired people. You need to make sure:

• at least 1.8m of footpath width is unobstructed for pedestrians
• your sign is at least 0.6m from the kerb, or at least 0.8m if on an Auckland Transport bus route
• your sign is at least 5m from the intersection of any roads and 2m from any access way, service lane or vehicle crossing
• if your sign is on a footpath beside a road, that it is towards the roadway kerb nearest the main ground floor entrance on the front boundary of the premises, and as much as possible on a grass verge (where one exists)
• if your sign is in a place other than a roadside footpath (for example a civic square), it is as close as is practicable to the main ground level entrance of the premises
• you remove your portable signs from a public place at the end of each day, and when they are at risk of being blown over due to high winds.

Example of how to correctly display portable signs on council-controlled public places.

Where portable signs are not allowed

You cannot use portable signs:

• on the roadway
• on a shared path
• on a cycle path
• in a shared zone
• on a road in a pedestrian mall
• if the sign relates to a home occupation.

Find the zone for your premises

You can find out the zone for your premises by searching for your address on Geomaps. Under the results tab on the left-hand side of your screen, you will find your property summary including your zone.

You can find a full description of the rules for portable signs in clause 11 of the Signs Bylaw 2022.