A losing battle
We do a lot of walking, driving around Kaitaia and by-passes, and are appalled at the amount of rubbish lying everywhere you look - paper, plastics, nappies, you name it it's there.
Have taken a bag to pick stuff up, but it's a losing battle.
So who is responsible for keeping our once lovely town clean and tidy? Is it councillors, or are the majority of them only there to open their beaks for their next feed of worms? What are our ever-increasing rates for? Obviously not to help keep our town clean.
A downtrodden town begets uncaring people with no pride.
By the way, if anyone wants free hay to feed their animals over winter, just go to the loop road past Mitre 10 and our new Warehouse, and you will find heaps of it piled up high all over the footpaths. But who cares?
PS: Who is contracted to mow grass verges etc?
WHAT EVER
Kaitaia
*****
Richard Edmondson, manager, communications, Far North District Council, responds:
The Far North District Council is committed to keeping the Far North tidy, and appreciates your correspondent's concern for the environment.
We operate an extensive network of refuse and recycling centres across the district and provide hundreds of litter bins in town centres and at popular recreational areas. Unfortunately, many people choose not to use these services, so litter is a big problem across the district.
Our town maintenance contractor, Recreational Services, does a good job of keeping our town centres tidy. However, council budgets do not allow us to extend this service to suburban areas or to our roading network, which is one of the longest in New Zealand. We therefore ask residents to remove small amounts of loose litter (takeaway food packaging) from the road verge in front of their homes.
Council will arrange for a contractor to remove large quantities of illegally-dumped rubbish, such as bagged household rubbish or furniture and appliances, but people need to lodge a request for service by phoning our 24-hour contact centre on 0800 920-029.
Your correspondent also asks who mows grass verges. The council mows a large number of parks and reserves across the district. However, budgets do not allow us to extend this service to grass verges on our roading network. We therefore ask residents to mow the verges in front of their properties to keep rates down.
This is standard practice at most New Zealand councils, and we are grateful to those people who take pride in their property frontages and do this willingly.