Far North council under pressure to remove dangerous Kerikeri redwoods

Kerikeri residents fear large redwood trees and branches will fall on their homes or children walking underneath them to school.

Far North residents living near unstable redwood trees say every storm feels like a game of “Russian roulette”.

After evacuating ahead of Cyclone Vaianu over fears nearby redwoods could fall on their homes, Wendywood Lane residents in Kerikeri were shaken again when branches fell during another storm.

Resident Jill Lancaster said living with the stand of giant redwoods nearby was “a bit like Russian roulette”.

“We’re sitting underneath the redwoods thinking ‘is it going to be tonight one will come down or tomorrow’.

“It’s going to happen eventually.”

Police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews were called to the area on April 20. Large branches had been strewn across the road overnight.

Kerikeri Fire Brigade station officer Andy Hamberger said fire crews ensured the area was safe including from any hanging branches.

He said the redwood trees should be removed as a priority.

“We do have a concern going forward with high winds going through there.

“I can understand the logistics of removing them, they’ll [council] have to move a lot of people out of their houses and potentially close the supermarket down, but I would suggest with the storms increasing it moves up the list.”

Resident Susie Roberts said the latest storm, which she believed was a mini-tornado, woke her about 3am.

“It sounded like a train coming through.

“I heard a crash, it must have been the limb coming down, then it went to absolute silence. There was a rush of noise then nothing.”

Fire crews and police ensure Wendywood Lane in Kerikeri is safe from loose branches falling off redwood trees following a recent storm.

Roberts was concerned about loose branches falling on children walking to school under the stand of trees.

“It’s a worry - we’re all holding our breath down Wendywood,” she said.

MetService meteorologist Katie Lyons said an “organised line” of thunderstorms and heavy rain had moved across Northland on April 19, hitting Kaitāia, Kaikohe and Kerikeri overnight.

The storm brought wind gusts of up to 115km/h, she said.

“It would have gone from not much to extremely windy very quickly.”

The Northern Advocate recently reported residents’ concerns on the long-standing issue of two stands of rotting redwood trees beside Hawkings Crescent and Wendywood Lane.

While the trees on Hawkings Cres were removed in March, the Far North District Council has reiterated that there is no date for removing the trees on Wendywood Lane.

The mature redwoods were deemed an “unacceptable risk” to life and property last June after a WorkSafe review into a near fatality, when a gardener had to run for his life from a 30m falling redwood.

After that, council chief executive Guy Holroyd decided the two stands of trees would be felled.

Council delivery and operations group manager Hilary Sumpter said staff were working with stakeholders, including local residents and New World management, to ensure their removal was undertaken safely.

However, there was no update on timing, she said.

“As noted in our [previous] statement ... council staff are currently in discussion with contractors about the costs and timeline to remove these trees.

“No further update on timings can be given until the details of the contract are confirmed.”

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.