Brian Rudman: Berm control protesters losing the plot

Illustration / Peter Bromhead

Listening to New Zealand Gardener and the Greens and assorted gardening enthusiasts fulminating about Auckland Transport's proposed new rules governing street berm gardening, I confess I did think bugger me, what have the bureaucrats come up with now.

It was AT, after all, that a couple of years ago, after Auckland councillors ordered them to stop mowing inner suburb berms, came up with the bizarre decision to demand a medical certificate from any ratepayer who pleaded they couldn't take over AT's cutting duties for health reasons.

But this time I was wrong. The proposed guidelines AT has been circulating around the local boards for feedback seem sensible and acceptable. That the roading authority is proposing to reverse a historic regionwide ban on any planting by neighbours of the council-owned verges in front of their homes seems an occasion for praise, not abuse.

There was a fellow with a Mohawk haircut on the box the other night, standing amongst his cabbages in the allotment garden he'd created on the grass verge in front of his house, railing against the evil council plans. I couldn't help thinking his "illegal" garden had survived under the tough existing rules without the berm police descending with their napalm torches to destroy his veggie plot, and more than likely would continue to under the new more liberal rules, even with their ban on edibles. Unless, that was, a neighbour dobbed him in, or he went on TV and drew attention to himself.

I'm guessing that most streets could live with one such eccentricity, but I'm not sure I'd want it to catch on. Walking along a street that had transmogrified into an elongated market garden, lined with vegetables in various stages of growth and decay, is not exactly my idea of suburban bliss.

Also upset are those who want to line the streets with fruit trees. Just around the corner from me is an old fashioned loquat tree. As kids we used to raid a neighbourhood loquat for the juicy yellow fruit. But the one up the road seems to shed most of its fruit on the pavement untouched these days. Kids, it seems, have other diversions. I share Auckland Transport's fear that an orchard of street-side fruit trees, and the inevitable rotting windfalls, would be a magnet for rats - and I'll throw in wasps as well. And that's without the concerns about what the roots will be doing to underground services and the adjacent pavement.

What the new proposals do allow is planting adjacent to your front fence, in a bed not extending out more than 60cm, with planting no higher than 60cm. Additionally, around street trees and between vehicle crossings, only low level planting, no higher than 30cm is permitted. In total, your planting can not exceed two 2sq m. Any planting stakes cannot exceed 60cm in height, be sharp, or pose a hazard to road users.

It's only if you want to exceed these guidelines that you will have to pay a $150 licence fee so your plans can be considered. I'm no great fan of bureaucracy, but all the above seems reasonable.

My street is lined with gnarled old Melia trees. At this time of the year, they're still dropping their yellow fruit on my car, and just starting to sprout the buds, which like clockwork, burst forth around Guy Fawkes Day, creating a lilac scented garden the length of the street. I'd hate someone coming along plonking in apples and citrus and ruining the symmetry.

Here and there, daisies and other low-slung flowering plants have been illegally added around lamp posts and tree trunks. The berm police have left them be. AT is now preparing to legitimise this low-level rebellion. I'm not sure why they're proposing to ban any planting that is "edible". All sorts of flowers turn up in salads these days. But the general thrust of low planting only is sensible.

It ensures drivers and pedestrians can see each other when it matters. It also ensures a safer environment for night-time pedestrians. And if a flower or two exceeds the height limit, I suspect AT will have more important things to worry about.