Council moved at Wednesday night’s meeting to seek a report investigating how council officers can be permitted to remove an abandoned vehicle that may be a danger to the public because of the risk of it being vandalised or set on fire.

The joint motion by councillors Di Fitzgibbon and Anne Sander was supported unanimously.

Cr Sander said torched cars are an ongoing problem in the Cessnock LGA.

“It’s just a nightmare,” she said.

“People have no respect … I don’t know what possesses people to do that.

“You see an abandoned car, and you know the inevitable will happen – they will get burnt. A couple of days later the wheels are gone, then the parts, and a few days later it’s on fire.”

The notice of motion stated that while council rangers are authorised under the Impounding Act 1993 to investigate and impound abandoned vehicles, authorised officers must comply with the legislative requirements set out in the Act (which includes timeframes for investigation, hence ensuring procedural fairness to vehicle owners).

However, under Clause 16 (5) Impounding Act 1993, a motor vehicle may be impounded immediately where the impounding officer is satisfied on reasonable grounds that its immediate removal is justified because it is causing an obstruction to traffic (vehicular or pedestrian) or is likely to be a danger to the public.

“Potential bushfires caused by persons setting fire to abandoned motor vehicles are likely to be a danger to the public; however it is unclear if this was the legislative intent,” the motion said.

The motion asked council investigate any other legislative provisions that would enable abandoned vehicles to be removed immediately, and that the report come back to council’s October 18 meeting.

It also asked the general manager to write to NSW Police to inform them of the “abnormally high” number of abandoned vehicles in the Cessnock local government area.

Cr Sander said Cessnock Council will raise the issue at the Local Government NSW annual conference in December.

“Every council has the same drama – we need to make a stand,” she said.

“It looks like a war zone – it’s like Beirut, we don’t need our LGA looking like that.”