Trees blamed
Ashhurst residents are calling for the council to remove and ban privet trees, which they claim are causing itchy eyes, coughing and headaches.
Ashhurst residents are calling for the council to remove and ban trees they claim are causing allergies.
Residents are blaming the privet trees, found throughout the town, for itchy eyes, coughing and headaches.
But while the trees have been restricted in other parts of the country and arborists are removing them from Palmerston North parks, a Horizons Regional Council environmental specialist says they aren’t the only trigger of hay fever symptoms.
Ashhurst resident Gail Drake said she started experiencing sinus problems, coughing and headaches when she moved to Ashhurst from Hawke’s Bay, in late 2017.
‘‘I never had symptoms before. Neither has my daughter and she has the same symptoms.’’
Drake is living in a motorhome until she moves to permanent accommodation. She said there was a privet tree next to her motorhome and she believed it was behind her health issues.
Drake wants the council to class the trees as a noxious weed and have them removed.
A private Ashhurst Facebook Page has more than a dozen residents complaining about the trees – many saying their allergies disappear when they leave town.
Ashhurst resident Joanne Pallesen said she and her father started having allergy symptoms when they moved to Ashhurst 10 months ago. ‘‘I get running noses and itchy eyes. I’ve never had an allergy problem.
‘‘My son came down to visit at Christmas. He just spent the whole time with his nose streaming.’’
Massey University senior lecturer in geography Kat Holt said people often mistook privet trees as the cause of their allergies.
‘‘They are probably reacting to something like rye grass. It’s a case of mistaken identity.’’
Horizons environmental coordinator Craig Davey said privet was just one plant of many that could cause hay fever symptoms. ‘‘With its stronger smell, it gets the ‘bad boy’ reputation.’’
Palmerston North was one of the first places in New Zealand to get privet trees when they were trendy in the 1950s and 1960s, Davey said.
Davey said privet hadn’t been banned from the Horizons region because it didn’t affect enough people. Although Horizons didn’t fund removing the trees, it has bought $10,000 worth of privet lace bugs, native to China, that should help destroy them.
Palmerston North City Council leisure assets officer Brian Way said its arborists were removing privet trees from Palmerston North and Ashhurst parks and reserves.