Family pushed to the hedge of reason
To the Osborne family, their macrocarpa hedge is a labour of love that has taken four generations to grow.
To the Kapiti Coast District Council and a group of neighbours led by a former Cabinet minister, it’s a monstrosity, and a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
It may take a court to decide who is right after the council requested the hedge be chopped back, and the Osbornes threatened legal action if the council did not back down.
Vince Osborne said his grandfather planted the hedge in the 1930s, and it was now a familiar feature on Te Moana Rd, at the gateway to Waikanae Beach, north of Wellington.
Osborne said the first the family knew about the hedge posing a problem was when a letter arrived early this month from eight neighbours, saying it was a traffic hazard. The same letter was also sent to the council.
The family were then called by the council and told another a letter was on its way, requesting that the hedge be cut back by February 22.
Chopping the hedge back to its bare branches would ultimately kill the hedge, he believed.
After requesting a meeting with council staff, the family were given an extension till April.
They had never seen a traffic incident on the road, there was no footpath under the hedge on the berm, and there was ample space for cyclists in front of the hedge, he said.
But former Labour Cabinet minister and ACT MP Ken Shirley, who lives around the corner, said the hedge had grown on to the public domain. It was over the berm, and at least a metre beyond the kerb on to the roadway.
‘‘It is, in our view, a serious hazard. I know that Osborne denies that. The fact is that there’s no pedestrian-way to walk past there.’’
Osborne might call the hedge an icon, ‘‘but in our view it’s a dangerous monstrosity’’.
Council infrastructure group manager Sean Mallon said it was a hazard to ‘‘pedestrians, cyclists and motorists’’ and this would only get worse once the nearby interchange from the Kapiti expressway opened.
‘‘We are giving the owners time to sort the matter and don’t want to lose the hedge if it can be avoided.’’