Auckland City Council members voted unanimously last night for heavily watered-down versions of bylaw proposals that drew fierce protests from the advertising industry.

But debate over two new billboard and signs bylaws was not without recriminations, as Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now member Doug Armstrong berated the council for spending $265,336 and 1614 hours of staff time on a process that had resulted in "180-degree changes".

He said the result was based largely on a proposal by billboard operator APN Outdoor, which is owned by the publisher of the Herald and which won broad industry support for a bid to stop the council axing more than 350 advertising sites.

"We didn't adopt our bylaw - we adopted the APN bylaw," Mr Armstrong said. "It's a lesson about how not to go about doing things."
The council has agreed to allow all lawfully established billboards and most approved signs to remain, but intends working with the industry over five years to remove or modify those on heritage buildings or in special-character areas and gateways to the central city and to Onehunga.

City Vision councillor Glenda Fryer, who chaired the signs bylaw hearings, said a plan to spend an extra $400,000 on enforcement would bring industry "cowboys" to heel.

The chairman of the billboard bylaw hearings, Labour councillor Richard Northey, said his panel agreed to allow existing boards to remain as a matter of natural justice and in recognition of the importance of the survival of the industry behind them.

Last night's debate was preceded by a personal statement from one of two councillors who tried unsuccessfully to broker a deal with the industry before hearings in April and May.

Other councillors took exception to Action Hobson member Christine Caughey's statement, in which she complained about a council instruction under legal advice for her and political teammate Richard Simpson not to be allowed to vote on the bylaws, as their earlier efforts might be construed as indicating closed minds.

But Mayor Dick Hubbard said the council received an opinion less than an hour before last night's meeting from the Auditor-General, advising there would be no procedural breach in allowing them to vote.