Shrub removal upsets local
"I would like Horizons to tell us why they did this."
A Whanganui East resident is upset that Horizons Regional Council has removed vegetation from the Whanganui River banks, saying residents were not consulted.
Judy Smith lives in Anzac Parade near the Aramoho Railway Bridge and is angry that about 100m of bank was recently cleared of shrubs, leaving the bank bare and exposed.
Ms Smith said the shrubs provided privacy for residents along Anzac Parade, as they helped screen the houses from Somme Parade, on the other side of the river.
She said they also helped mitigate noise.
“We’ve got a busy road and a railway line right here, and the shrubs soaked up some of that sound,” she said.
Ms Smith said most of her neighbours were unhappy with the vegetation being cut down.
“They [Horizons] did this about a year ago. They told us then that they would replant but they never did. What we had here was naturally regenerated.
“I would like Horizons to tell us why they did this,” she said.
Horizons senior engineer Jeremy Cumming said the removal was part of a project to protect the stopbanks along the river by removing invasive shrubs such as bamboo.
The project focused on Kowhai Park but also included other areas nearby.
Mr Cumming said bamboo had a particularly damaging root system, which could weaken the stopbanks during a flood event.