Pipe man vows to keep up pressure

CLAREMONT man Zack Walsh says he will continue to push the Glenorchy City Council to fix what he describes as a “death trap” in his backyard.

As the council says its staff has been ordered off Mr Walsh’s land when it has tried to come up with solutions for the massive pipe at the Abbotsfield Rd property, Mr Walsh says he will continue to keep the pressure up.

“I’m not stopping gets fixed,” he said.

“It’s not all about me, it’s about the neighbours as well and keeping the kids safe. It’s terrible what is here.”

On Tuesday, the Mercury reported Mr Walsh’s situation, which occurred after the coun- until it cil piped the adjacent land below his property seven years ago.

He said the massive opening in his backyard had widened the gully the Hilton River ran through from 1m, when he bought the property, to 4m now.

And it had washed away fences and was eroding the foundations of his fence, he said.

However, a council spokeswoman said staff had met Mr Walsh on his property to work out a solution, but were then ordered off his land.

“There have been a series of meetings over time,” she said.

“Most recently with council’s hydraulic-engineer technical staff on 25 July 2017, and with the commissioner [Sue Smith], a senior manager and hydraulic engineer on 10 August 2017, which ended with the resident ordering the council contingent off his property.

“Council understands that the fence line of the property does not follow its boundary, so the pipe appears to be within the boundary [of Mr Walsh’s yard] when in fact it is not.”

Mr Walsh’s options to end the stalemate look to be limited apart from possibly going to the Ombudsman or initiating legal action,

“I could take the council to court but they have more money than me, so they would outlast me,” he said. “So I’m going to keep the pressure on in other ways.”

Zack Walsh