Turf war brews over mowing
COUNCIL’S culture and community committee has proposed a policy that would have residents mowing nature strips.
The proposal was noted at the committee meeting on February 10, with consultation acknowledging that “the scale of nature strip and laneways across the LGA is too great for council to be expected to maintain”.
The committee defined the nature strip as “that area of public land existing between the private property boundary and the curb and gutter/road verge”; and the “laneway is that land separating the rear boundary of properties in older sections of Dubbo city, Wellington and villages”.
There were two options outlined in the minutes:
1. Council could adopt a policy which stipulates council’s responsibility for the maintenance of nature strips and laneways. This would necessitate a reduction in other services across the Local Government Area in order to allocate appropriate resources to maintain these areas to an appropriate standard.
2. Council adopts the... policy which stipulates that it is the responsibility of the adjoining property owner to maintain
nature strips and laneways. This option could present a minor inconvenience to property owners, but also leads to an increased likelihood that all nature strip and laneways are maintained to a suitable standard.
The proposal has caused some social media debate, with residents on the Dubbo Regional Council Discussion Group Facebook page expressing a variety of opinions.
“We have always done our verge, but I worry now about our older residents,” one resident posted. “Some of them find it too difficult to do the
bits near the gutter for fear of falling and others are not willing or can’t afford to pay the extra to get their gardeners to do the verge as well.”
Another resident commented: “They (council) don’t mow them now as it is.”
However, others seemed supportive of the move, with one post reading: “If we all chipped in a bit of our own time and effort and here and there, the less rates and dependence on government we’d be. This is the least we could do” and another saying: “I can’t see any reason why the adjacent landholders would
not want to showcase their residences by caring for their nature strip”.
In its report, the committee noted: “It is not practical to expect council to maintain some or all of these areas. The financial and time cost would be exorbitant. No other council is known to maintain these respective areas routinely.
The committed proposed to place the Draft Council Policy on public exhibition for a period of at least 28 days and would consider any public submissions in drafting a final version, before presenting it to council for adoption.