Newcastle Liberal councillors are pushing for a crackdown on illegal motorbikes and e-bikes, sick of ratepayers shelling out thousands of dollars to repair fields torn up by vandals.
Councillors Callum Pull and Jenny Barrie have co-signed a motion pushing for the state government to introduce mandatory registration and number plates for e-bikes and harsher penalties for people using illegal vehicles in public.
Cr Pull said if vandals are to be held accountable, police need to be able to identify them, and having compulsory e-bike registration is one way to enforce compliance.
"Introducing a compulsory registration scheme will mean police can easily distinguish between legal and illegal e-bikes, helping to get the illegal bikes off the street and allowing surveillance technologies to identify e-bike users who are not following the law," Cr Pull said.
"As part of this advocacy, we are asking for the power for ratepayers to be compensated for the cost of damaged fields.
"This will mean vandals pay for the cleanup of their own mess so that ratepayers won't have to."
The motion, which will go to Tuesday's council meeting, calls on the state government to increase fines and expand powers to seize and destroy illegal vehicles used in public.
Vandalism at council-owned parks and fields has continued to be a problem in recent months, affecting both sporting clubs and the community.
In June, a large group of illegal electric vehicles and dirt bike riders descended on Dangar Park, where the motion said more than 40 people riding unregistered trail bikes damaged parklands and surrounding streets.
Police had to close nearby streets to restore order, and subsequently arrested four people despite estimating there were many more unregistered bikes and vehicles at the park.
In July, Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery launched a petition calling on City of Newcastle to install fencing and CCTV at its sportsgrounds to prevent vandalism.
Cr Pull said CCTV will count for nothing if the offenders cannot be identified.
"Mandatory registration is not a silver bullet, but it will help to bridge that gap and mean all mitigation measures can work together to protect our sporting fields and public spaces," he said.
The councillors want penalties for damaging community facilities to include the option of recovering costs from those found responsible.
Cr Barrie said local clubs and sports groups have had to spend too much time off the field because of vandalism.
"It needs to stop, and by giving councils the ability to recover costs for the damage, we can protect ratepayers, and protect our fields," she said.
If accepted, the council will write to local and state politicians to escalate the advocacy.
