Following community engagement feedback received during July 2025, we have made amendments to our proposed By-laws for Roads and Township Bird Management. We are seeking feedback on the proposed amendments to both By-laws as detailed below.

Proposed amendments to By-law No. 4 Roads

In July 2025, we proposed a key change to the existing By-law to include a new section covering residential waste bin management. This section included a timeframe for placing domestic waste, recyclables and green organics containers on the kerbside for collection.

Following community feedback:

• We have increased this timeframe by 10 hours, to allow bins to be placed on the kerbside from 6.00am the day prior to collection.
• The timeframe for waste bins to be returned to properties remains at up to 24 hours after waste collection.

The draft By-law continues to include the following changes that were engaged on in July 2025. We are not seeking further feedback on these changes.

• Detail around the positioning of domestic waste containers on the roadside.
• A new section covering residents altering the vegetation within council verges.

Proposed amendments to new By-law No. 7 Township Bird Management

In July 2025, we proposed a new By-law covering the ownership of livestock, roosters and bee management within designated townships.

Following community feedback:

• This By-law no-longer considers the ownership of livestock and bee management.
• This By-law restricts the ownership within townships, of roosters and pigeons. Residents wishing to have rooster or pigeons within townships will require permission from Council. This approval process will not incur a fee to residents.

You can view both draft By-laws under the Document Library.

What we asked

We invited feedback from the public on the proposed amendments to By-law No. 4 Roads and By-law No. 7 Township Bird Management, between Wednesday 3 and Tuesday 23 September 2025.

A total of 54 participants provided feedback on the proposed changes to the two By-laws. 53 respondents provided their feedback via the online or hardcopy survey. One person provided their feedback via email and one person completed the online survey twice.

How we asked

What we heard

A total of 54 people participated in community engagement around the finalisation of our By-laws for Roads and Township Bird Management. Participation was through online and hardcopy feedback forms and email and was significantly lower than responses received during Phase 1 of community engagement run through July 2025 (316 responses).

This reduction in responses is expected to be due to the reduced number of By-laws we were consulting on and the revision of proposed By-law No. 7 to now only govern township ownership of roosters and pigeons. It’s likely also due to the requirement for participants to register / sign in to Adelaide Hills Engagement Hub to complete the online feedback form.

A large number of responses received during Phase 1 of engagement shared negative feedback across all or several By-laws without providing any useful feedback as to this blanket rejection. Many respondents also resided outside of the Adelaide Hills Council area and did not fall within the jurisdiction of the By-laws.

Of the 54 respondents that participated in Phase 2 of engagement, 96.5% (n=52) of respondents who completed feedback live within the Adelaide Hills Council area, with 3.5% (n=2) living in other suburbs outside of the Adelaide Hills Council area.

By-law No. 4 Roads

The amendment to the timeframe for waste bins on the kerbside was largely supported by participants with 77% of respondents selecting “Yes” or “Yes, but I have some concerns or suggestions” when asked if they support the proposed amendments to the draft By-law.

Commentary received focused around concerns for people who require support to take their bins in and out, extenuating circumstances that might prevent the timeframe from being met and that the timeframe was still too restrictive. There were a few comments about why the By—law / timeframe is needed and concerns about bin placement and circumstances that might prevent placement in line with the By-law.

By-law No. 7 Township Bird Management

Majority (76%) of respondents who provided feedback on By-law No. 7 were not in support of the proposed amendments to the draft By-law. When detailing why they didn’t support the By-law, many mentioned the importance of maintaining the character of the Adelaide Hills / country living and compared this to city living (20), others mentioned other noises being just as prevalent as roosters and pigeons (14) and that roosters are no nuisance or that they enjoy having roosters around them (11).

Other responses mentioned the existing tools Council has to manage these complaints including the Nuisance Act (6) and that the By-law is council overreach or over governance (5).

You can view the Engagement Outcomes Report by selecting the button below or under the Document Library.

Council Decision and Next Steps

At the Council Meeting held on 25 November 2025, Council endorsed the revisions to existing By-law No. 4 Roads and having considered the feedback received through the community engagement process, to not proceed at this time with a new by-law to regulate roosters and pigeons in townships.