Consistent policy sees all property owners required to mow road berms

Policy to be reviewed in 12 months time.

All Thames-Coromandel property owners will be required to mow their road berms after July 1 regardless of where they live in the District or whether they are resident or not.

This follows Council deliberations on the draft 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan, when they were told that 602 submitters were supportive of the proposal and 319 were not. Councillors were told that some of the support was conditional on Council continuing to mow reserve areas and main thoroughfares.

Currently some communities have their road berms mowed by Council while others don't and the proposed change was to create equity as well as save money.

Meantime, Council has accepted a submission from the Tairua-Pauanui Community Board to defer road reseals in Pauanui in the coming year in order to reduce local rates. The Tairua-Pauanui area was facing a double-digit increase in local rates mainly driven by the cost of red chip seal.

The above decisions still have to be confirmed in June when the Council signs off on the 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan.