Roadside mowing frequency may rise
Roadside mowing around the Tasman district may be boosted as part of a new road maintenance contract.
Tasman District Council transportation manager Jamie McPherson said the contract was now out to tender and was due to close tomorrow.
A few years ago, the council cut the number of mows a year from three or four to two, in order to trim the budget.
It has not been an overwhelmingly popular move and many people have complained, saying they did not believe twice a year was enough.
McPherson last week told Tasman district councillors that in the contract out for tender, ‘‘we’ve asked the tenderers to supply us costs to mow twice a year and costs to mow four times a year, and the feedback we’ve received is that it won’t necessarily cost double to mow four times rather than twice so we will see how the prices come back’’.
‘‘We are keen to respond to what the community wants,’’ McPherson said.
Mayor Richard Kempthorne said when the council decided to reduce the frequency of mowing, ‘‘we had a really close look at it and we did it for budget reasons, we did it to keep rates down and that’s, I think, where we will need to have that discussion when we look at it’’.
‘‘We would all like it to be four times a year but the caution I’ve got is the budget implications.’’
The contract up for tender covers road maintenance across most of the district except Golden Bay and Murchison, which are subject to separate contracts.