The Taieri Rugby Football Club wants to take the axe to the trees which border Peter Johnstone Park and run along the Silver Stream. Club chairman Peter Dyer told the Otago Daily Times the trees posed a safety threat. They are mostly old pines and also cast long shadows over the neighbouring rugby fields, leaving the grass cover patchy and the playing surface in poor condition. “There’s a number of them there that are unsafe,’’ Dyer said. “We’ve had issues in the past.’’ Last year “two or three’’ trees fell during high winds and just missed the scoreboard structure. Large branches regularly turn up on the ground after being liberated from their moorings high above. The tree roots also presented a hazard along what was a popular walking route, he said. “At the end of the day, they’re not natives or anything like that. They’re just old pine trees that were planted 30 or 40 years ago and have never been maintained.” Earlier this season, the club moved a division 1 game between Taieri and Green Island to the No 5 ground at the venue because heavy rain that morning had left the playing surface unsuitable for play. Dyer had previously written to the Dunedin City Council about the condition of the ground and followed up with another email following that match. He met DCC staff to discuss the situation. “Any moisture we get, it just comes up — it’s not soaking,’’ Dyer said. The club would like the trees removed or topped to help improve the drying process. But Dyer said the DCC did not see an issue with the trees. “They seem to think that, you know, trees are pretty sacred, and they don’t cut down trees unless they really have to.” The DCC has agreed to add some more plough work to the regular maintenance schedule to help improve the playing surface’s drainage.
