Tag: Berm

Auckland Transport to Review Berm Policy

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One More Time with the Berms

 

Auckland Transport dropped a release this afternoon stating it was actively reviewing its berm policy.

From Voxy:

Auckland Transport reviewing berms policy

Friday, 14 February, 2014 – 13:43

Auckland Transport is reviewing its policy and guidelines for planting of vegetation on grass berms.

The current policy is that planting is not permitted as it may create safety hazards (impairing sight lines, covering signage etc); cause damage to underground services such as sewerage, water and power; and increase on-going road corridor maintenance costs, if planting is abandoned by the homeowner.

Auckland Transport Chief Operations Officer, Greg Edmonds, says the organisation is aware of a number of residents and businesses who have planted berms outside their property.

“We will not take any action in terms of removal whilst we are reviewing the policy unless those plantings pose a very real safety risk”, he says.

“We will be taking a customer-focussed and pragmatic approach to our review, in consultation with Auckland Council; however safety for road users, pedestrians and cyclists will be paramount as will be managing the cost of on-going road corridor maintenance.”

—ends—

Source: http://www.voxy.co.nz/lifestyle/auckland-transport-reviewing-berms-policy/5/181537

 

Lets hope a more pragmatic policy comes out of the review. Providing health and safety of fellow road users is not compromised, and that the modified berm is maintained then I see no issue with berm plantings – which are common in the EU and North America.

 

The Isthmus and Berm Mowing

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Compromise or Harden Up?

 

Must be election time in Auckland. Why? Apart from the fact in front of my keyboard I have my voting papers (for: Mayor, Ward Councillors, Local Board and District Health Board – and which make some depressing reading (the pamphlet of candidate choice is not that inspiring)), the Isthmus is still going on about their berms in front of their properties being mowed.

This stems from a decision on the 2012-2022 Long Term Plan deliberations (the LTP is now operative/in effect) that to save $3.2m from the Council budget, the former Auckland City Council area residents will no longer have their berms mowed by a Council contractor. The Isthmus like: Franklin, Papakura, Manukau, Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney will now have to mow the berm that is in front of their properties.

The rest of the City is wondering what is the Isthmus moaning about when for years if not decades everyone else just mowed their berms when they mowed their lawns. The most common reason I hear from the Isthmus is that the $3.2m of a service cut was not passed on in rates savings. Rather than parts of the Isthmus have been stung with a string of some of the highest rate rises in all of Auckland over the last three years.

 

At the end of the day we can keep going around in circles and most likely tell the Isthmus to harden up and join the rest of us in wider Auckland.

Or we could seek a solution. Councillor Casey and candidate Mark Donnelly both mooted an idea, one that I also submitted on to my submission to the 2012-2022 Long Term Plan. The Solution?

  1. Proper funding of the Local Boards for local services
  2. Allow individual Local Boards to pick whether they want contractors mowing the berms in their area

Basically if a Local Board wanted to pay a contractor of their choice to mow their areas’ berms rather than have the residents do so then they are free to choose. However, the cost would come out of the Local Board’s budget. This means the Local Board would have to decide how to raise the money for this service. The most obvious one would be a targeted rate to pay for the service.

But that way the Local Boards could choose whether they wanted the berms in front of houses mowed by a contractor.

 

While this does not address wider issues such as the 10-10-10 rate rise and loss of earlier berm mowing on the Isthmus it is a remedy to allow Local Boards decide local decisions.

What do you think? Leave your thoughts below

 

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