Contractors have stepped up their response to the problem.
The council had hoped to have a backlog under control by Christmas, but transport group manager Jeanine Benson said wet, windy weather had delayed vegetation control work.
Significant improvement had been made and vegetation was starting to die off, Ms Benson said.
"Fulton Hogan’s vegetation subcontractor, Whitestone, is pulling out all stops to ensure vegetation is kept under control by taking on more staff and purchasing extra equipment."
Nonetheless, a series of complaints has flowed in to the Otago Daily Times about the problem.
Mereana Rapata-Hanning said South Dunedin in general was a mess.
She cited Glasgow St and Reid Rd as examples, but said most roads within a wide area were shabby, compared with the likes of Maori Hill.
Not everyone was happy in Maori Hill either, however.
Among the areas brought up by ODT readers was Forfar St at Clyde Hill, the entrance and bottom of Kohu Place at Halfway Bush and Kirkland St, Green Island.
Mornington resident Carolyn Walters, whose son lives in Kirkland St, said contractors used a weed-eater but then did not pick up after themselves, allowing drains to be blocked and spreading the weeds’ seeds.
Ms Benson said there had been no change in method since Fulton Hogan picked up the contract this year.
Subcontractor Whitestone was committed to working through the Christmas break, other than statutory holidays, and it was gearing up to employ more staff in the new year, she said.
Whitestone earlier had 14 fulltime-equivalent staff working on vegetation control.
By November 24, it had brought in nine extra crews to manage vegetation, a subcontracted crew to help with spraying and a second team to help with Otago Regional Council’s noxious plant programme, Ms Benson said.
This month, Whitestone bought an additional reach mower and two side-by-side utility vehicles.
By November 27, 51% of routine spraying and 20% of the noxious weed spraying had been completed, Ms Benson said.
"We are happy with their level of service and there has not been a change of method. Vegetation control is skilled work that requires training."
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Comments
The question that has never been adequately answered is how things were allowed to get to this stage in the first place. Fulton Hogan (FH) holds the road maintenance contract and they have sub-contracted the vegetation control component to Whitestone Contracting. Nothing unusual about that. However, Whitestone is a very experienced contracting company. It was originally the works department of the Oamaru/Waitaki district council and has held large maintenance contracts in its own right. It shouldn't have been caught short on this vegetation sub-contract. What went wrong? Why were they clearly so under-resourced? Why didn't FH notice that things weren't right and sort it with their subbie? When did the DCC start to take notice? Was it only when residents started complaining? Surely the DCC has contract supervisors out in the field inspecting work done under the road maintenance contract? Why didn't they notice things going wrong months ago? These are the questions the ODT needs to be digging into - not just relying on carefully worded responses written by DCC "communications advisors" (i.e. spin doctors). The city looks disgraceful, Third World, and someone needs to be accountable.
I was of the understanding that the reason the weeds and mowing got out of control was due to the Covid19 lockdown. We went into and came out of lockdown when vegetation was in it's autumn rapid growth period, before winter slows the growth. So I guess essentially the contracters missed a few maintainance rotations, meaning a lot more growth to deal with, coupled with quite a wet spring, so slowing down the spraying and trimming process? For quite awhile almost everything came to a stop....but not the growth of vegetation.
There's no way that this is the reason. The contract changed hands just as we were coming out of lockdown. They had the whole of winter to catch up on any backlog caused by not working during lockdown. It should have all been under control before spring growth started. The contractor should then have sufficient resources to meet that spring growth period. We have had "wet springs" before and the weeds have never been this bad. That's just a convenient excuse. Was the contractor paid during lockdown when weeds weren't being dealt with? If so, they should have had the funds to engage temporary staff to "catch up". No, this is a simple case of the contractor (or sub-contractor in this case) being under-resourced. The question is why. And why was remedial action not taken sooner? Spring growth started in September, four months ago. It should have been obvious to DCC by early October that something wasn't right. Almost the end of December and the city looks disgusting. I will repeat - serious questions need to be asked. This shouldn't have happened. Someone has messed up. Who? Why? DCC needs to be held accountable.
Or perhaps the city looks more First World? Entire countries and councils in Europe are banning herbicide and promoting urban 'weeds' for pollination purposes. There are weeds everywhere! Certainly seems very strange as I'm used to the New Zealand zero-tolerance approach.
they are still losing as there are lotsa places round dunedin that have loads of weeds.. walkways etc
You can't just leave weeds to grow on city streets. I don't know what they do in the countries mentioned above but some weeds have complex root systems that, left unchecked, can cause considerable damage to paved surfaces like footpaths and roads. Weeds, when wet, are also a slipping hazard. Vegetation left growing unchecked on roadsides can become a visibility hazard for road users. Weed and vegetation management on city roads and road reserves is about more than just aesthetics.
Maybe they're planning on us living more with nature Robbie. If you let the vegetation grow, we become more tuned to our environment. Aaron and his mates have planned this, and saved tens of thousands of dollars to put towards a bridge to nowhere. If the visibility hazards for drivers get to a certain stage, there will be less cars in the city! They're a cunning lot......
A great many of the weeds (such as in brown st) are large and fully mature, dropping seeds or just about to.
If they are weeded before dropping seeds there would be less weeds next year, funnily enough.
Or maybe it is a scammy kind of "business model" (intentionally or "accidentally" creating more work busyness and therefore $$$).
If gorse is included as a weed- answer- no. Just look a Flagstaff or the areas around Tunnel Beach- the gorse is out of control.