Plantings rather than stone could replace the failed wall in Severn St, Oamaru, which came tumbling down after heavy rain before the start of winter.
In March, the Waitaki District Council spent $45,000 improving the stability of the roughly 80-year-old wall in State Highway 1/Severn St, opposite Nicholson Tce, but just two months later the wall failed.
On May 28, several metres of the top tier of the three-tiered Oamaru stone wall failed and stone blocks tumbled on to the footpath next to the busy highway (above right).
Rather than a structural failure, "imported soils ... prone to saturation'' led to the wall's collapse, a council report states.
The council will deliver the idea to the assets committee "in due course'', the report states.
The plantings could contribute to the surface integrity of the wall and add to the aesthetic value of the entrance to Oamaru, it states.
