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A Snells Beach resident is fuming after a botched Auckland Council-initiated paint job created an environmental hazard.
Louise Garlick came across the bungle while walking along Snells Beach. She noted freshly painted yellow lines down a boat ramp at the northern end of the beach near Sunburst Avenue.
She later learned the paint had been applied a little over a week earlier but was already peeling off in big flakes.
“I thought, ‘what idiot did that?’” Louise says.
The flakes were littering the beach and breaking up into smaller flakes and being washed into the sea.
Louise walks along the beach regularly and picks up litter as she goes.
Following heavy rain and high tides more paint peels, and Louise has spent up to half an hour during her walks cleaning up – on one occasion borrowing a dustpan and brush from a nearby camper to do the job properly.
She says the only thing positive to come out of the incident was to come across a young girl of about 12 one day also engaged in cleaning up the mess.
Louise fears the smaller pieces will be a hazard for fish as they could be mistaken for food.
Auckland Council head of maintenance Agnes McCormack says the lines were painted by contractor
Urban Maintenance Systems after a member of the public said it was hard for boat owners to see the sides of the ramp while reversing.
There is a drop-off along the sides of the ramp of around 30 to 40 centimetres.
Ms McCormack says Council will be taking the flaking paint issue up with the contractor and the area that is flaking will either be repainted or removed.
