Burgeoning noxious weeds beside a popular harbour walking track have become a prickly issue for Maia resident Stephen Loach.
Mr Loach walks his dogs on the track between Maia and Ravensbourne each night, and is concerned about the amount of broom and gorse taking over land beside the track.
"The DCC have, over the years, made a mediocre attempt to control it by using weed-eaters to clear it.
"But all that that has done is encourage it to grow more.
"It looks disgraceful."
Mr Loach said the track was a "wonderful facility", but its maintenance appeared to have been let go.
"It cost a lot of money to establish it, and now it is being neglected.
"If you don't deal with it, it's going to get harder and harder to deal with.
"It's a great facility for the city and it's used an awful lot. It will probably be used by people to access the World Cup games at the stadium, so it's important to keep it clear."
Dunedin City Council parks officer Neville Miller said "control work" was usually carried out in spring when the weeds were growing fastest, and chemical sprays and weed eaters would be used in early September in an attempt to kill many of the noxious weeds.
However, Mr Miller said it was difficult to maintain control of the weeds because not all of the land surrounding the track was owned by the DCC.
Some of the land was owned by the New Zealand Transport Agency and KiwiRail, he said.
"We know there's a few issues down there and we are trying to get together to work through the problem."
