But former councillor Doug Hall sen has hit back, saying he has done nothing wrong and was stopping an accident waiting to happen.
The argument revolves around a small piece of Dunedin City Council reserve land on the corner of Cleghorn St and North Rd at the head of North East Valley.
It was formerly a stock loading ramp for farmers in the area, but had lain bare for years.
About 10 years ago, Upper Junction resident David McFarlane decided to plant some native plants to bring some biodiversity to the area. They had steadily grown over the years and been added to.
But late last week, Mr McFarlane was shocked to find the space had been stripped bare.
And he is pointing the finger at Mr Hall.
‘‘He’s not going to say it’s him, is he? But from everything that I can work out, he’s been in touch. He’s been pushing it. He told me several months ago that he wanted the plants gone,’’ he said.
‘‘It looked fine and if there was a situation with visibility and vehicles and stuff, you know, fair cop.
‘‘Maybe they could have had a talk to me and then there could have been some kind of accommodation — ‘OK, this needs to go, all that needs cut back’ — but no, everything has just gone.’’
‘‘We were pretty p...ed off that a person turns up in the neighbourhood — he’s only been up here for about a year — and then starts throwing his weight around and this is the end result.’’
Rare grass skinks were in the area, so destroying them may well have breached the Wildlife Act, Mr McFarlane said.
He said he had laid a complaint with the council, seeking an apology and compensation.
‘‘So they’ve been rushing to ring me this morning? No, they have not.’’
He met Mr Hall at the corner earlier this week, but it ended in name calling.
Mr Hall said the corner was a major safety issue and something had to be done. But he did not force the council to do it.
He said council contractors were measuring the water table on the reserve last week when he mentioned to them the road was dangerous as the view was blocked in both directions.
‘‘It’s dangerous getting around the corner ... anyone coming down Cleghorn St, they can’t see anyone coming up the road, and anyone going into there can’t see anyone coming down the road until you’re right around the corner.
‘‘And it’s council land. It’s not private land.
‘‘I come out of there in my big tractor — it’s 12m long. The front of my tractor’s out on the traffic before I can see down the road. It’s dangerous.
‘‘The council weighed it up, and they thought it was dangerous, too. I never talked to council when they were doing their stuff,’’ Mr Hall said.
Mr Hall said he had approached Mr McFarlane and his partner, Mandy Tocher.
‘‘I said, ‘if you don’t do something with them, I will have to do something with them’. On two separate occasions. And he obviously didn’t want to.’’
A council spokesperson said contractors removed a small amount of vegetation from the location after a member of the public raised concerns the vegetation was blocking sight lines at the intersection and potentially creating a safety issue.
The land was part of DCC road reserve and, as far as the council could determine, nobody had contacted the council to check whether they could add plantings there, the spokesperson said.
The council was unaware of the purpose of the plantings or the presence of either skinks or skink habitat.
The outcome might have been different if the council had known who did the planting and that skinks were in the reserve.
‘‘Without knowing who was responsible, it was virtually impossible for us to speak to the person before having the plants removed.’’
