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Residents living around Mansel Drive bridge in Warkworth are frustrated at not only the lack of maintenance alongside the adjoining roadsides, but Auckland Council’s response to their complaints.
Falls Road resident Allison Haycock says maintenance was regular for the first year after the bridge opened.
“But then, the contract lapsed and maintenance is now done on a haphazard, one-off basis,” she says.
“When all the paspalum is hanging over the footpath, it is virtually impossible to walk along it. My husband Steve is maintaining a swathe between our house and an overgrown stormwater pond, but this shouldn’t be our responsibility.”
Jemma Harris, who regularly walks her son in the area, wonders why Council created the verges if it had no plan to mow them.
“A lot of native planting was done initially, but the plants are being suffocated by weeds,” she says.
“What a waste of money!
“I rang Council and spent the first 15 minutes trying to explain to them where the bridge was.”
Allison says another resident tried to lodge a complaint at Council’s Warkworth office, but was told to ring Council in Auckland.
“It seems Warkworth is just a forgotten part of Auckland.”
Rodney Local Board chair Beth Houlbrooke says this issue has been immensely frustrating and she has also lodged requests for service.
“Each time, the answer comes back from Auckland Transport (AT) that berms are the responsibility of the adjacent landowner,” Ms Houlbrooke says. “I have asked for clarification of who that might be, because my understanding is that the land was purchased for the construction of the bridge and to my knowledge it is still in Council ownership, including the vacant section on the corner that is also overgrown.”
When Mahurangi Matters referred the issue to Auckland Council for comment, it was told it was an AT issue.
But an AT spokesperson says that the area was previously part of AT’s rural berm mowing contract.
“But, because it’s essentially being ‘urbanised’ – changing with residential development, the lowering of the speed limit and the installation of the footpath – it falls under Auckland Council’s berm mowing policy and is the property owners’ responsibility,” the spokesperson says.
“The berms were mown (under the previous rural contract) last month, but on April 1 under the same contract (depending on growth), responsibility for berm mowing will be handed over to Council’s Community Facilities team. Any planted gardens are a Council responsibility.”
Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Mayor Phil Goff opened the Mansel Road bridge with much fanfare in early 2017. The bridge forms a strategic link in the long-awaited Western Collector bypass.
