Green green berms of home

Tim Jones sings the praises of the additions to his street but there's a problem – they're on council land. John Landrigan reports.
Tim Jones admits it was a bit cheeky to extend his front lawn on to council-owned land and fence it off.
His is one of a number of properties on Edgars Rd, near Cox's Bay Recreational Reserve in Westmere, where homeowners have planted, paved and fenced off council berms - one fence was put up 18 years ago.
Around the corner on Regina St, Mr Jones points to a solid wall encircling one frontage and a carport built on what was once public land.
He says the council was complicit with him and most of his neighbours on the fences, until a neighbour across the road complained.
Auckland City Council said all  the encroachments on the street should be removed within 10 days - including the 18-year-old fence and plants.
Mr Jones is one of 32 residents now asking Western Bays Community Board to intervene
and allow owners between 11 and 23 Edgars Rd to buy or lease the land. "We want the right to buy or lease the land. I am willing to pull the fence down if the council needs it done but  we want it in the meantime.''
The residents say neighbouring Regina St owners already have informal arrangements to use land free of charge, or formal arrangements to buy or lease. "The council needs to be consistent. There needs to be a policy in place. We have been looking after this land for 11 years,'' Mr Jones says.
Western Bays Community Board  chairman Bruce Kilmister says that what Mr Jones has
done is "acquisition of a public space and then fencing it''.
"We are mindful that public spaces are diminishing. He has been served notice to remove it. We are now looking at the total picture. We want to make a determination for the whole street.''
Mr Kilmister says there is a chance Mr Jones can keep the fence but he would need to buy the land for between $50,000 and $70,000.
Selling the land, he says, would be a piecemeal solution because only some owners would buy their frontages.
The community board is also exploring an option for the residents to lease the land.
He says there are other areas of concern regarding encroachment and expects the council to uphold the committee's recommendation. He could not say when this would be done.
Biting into berms
Roadside land is being gnawed at across the Auckland region as more properties are subdivided and householders jostle for space.
Kit Howden, who has 30 years' experience in city and regional park management, heads the environmental group, Friends of the Maungawhau. He says encroachment on grassy berms is part of the "nibble effect'' on public land.
Mr Howden says there are too many public spaces enclosed for private use in Auckland, creating a mish-mash effect along streets.
"There is an uncoordinated approach to management of green space. What is beautiful to one person is ugly to another. A berm has many purposes. You need it for access to utility services, a place to put the wheelie bin and for recreation."