Brian Pickering is annoyed at the overgrown gardens on Te Ngae Rd. Photo / Kelly Makiha
A jungle of weeds and overgrown plants on the centre and side verge gardens along Rotorua’s Te Ngae Rd are to get tidied up after years of neglect.
The state of the gardens prompted Eastside retiree Brian Pickering to complain, which raised questions at the time about who was responsible for the mess.
The Rotorua Lakes Council has now advised the public that it will begin scheduled maintenance of the areas after being handed responsibility of the gardens in November.
Pickering said he didn’t think the gardens had been weeded since they were built during a Te Ngae Rd upgrade.
He said the overgrown plants were an eyesore and a safety concern because they caused visibility issues in parts.
The gardens include the long median strip on Te Ngae Rd between Sala St and Tarawera Rd as well as the corner gardens at intersections along Te Ngae Rd through to Brent Rd.
Overgrown gardens on the side verges and at intersection corners near Puketāwhero Park were also causing Pickering concern.
Pickering is a Karaka Pines Regency Park resident who received a New Zealand Bravery Decoration in 2005 for saving trampers caught in the Umukarikari Ranges.
He said he contacted the Rotorua Lakes Council and New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) this month, and both referred him to the other organisation.
He said he was eventually told via Higgins, a contractor for NZTA, the work had recently been given to the council.
In an email from Higgins, he was told: “It was part of a project, and the responsibility sat with the contractors who completed the work. However, it has since been handed over to the council and will be maintained by them moving forward.”
Pickering said it appeared no one knew whose responsibility it was.
“It has never been weeded since it was built … This is a ridiculous situation.”
He said Rotorua was a tourist city and it needed to look tidy.
“When I drive out of here (Regency Park), I have a slight difficulty seeing what’s coming the other way because it’s so overgrown.”
Council infrastructure and assets group manager Stavros Michael told the Rotorua Daily Post the garden areas were created as part of the upgrades to SH30/Te Ngae Rd undertaken by NZTA.
These upgrades were implemented in stages between 2020 and 2025. Garden median features were installed at the end of each construction phase.
Michael said as was the usual process following NZTA road upgrades, responsibility for any new garden areas was handed over to the local council after a period of time and the council would then agree to become responsible for ongoing upkeep.
“These gardens were handed over to Rotorua Lakes Council by NZTA in November, along with some funding to bring them up to standard for future maintenance.”
The cost for ongoing maintenance will sit with the council.
“We acknowledge the gardens have become untidy and work to straighten them up is scheduled to get under way next Thursday, weather permitting, starting with the median (middle of the road) and working up to the Puketawhero Park area.”
He said work would then be undertaken on the roadside garden beds.
“This will be done by our open space operations department so has had to be organised alongside other regular scheduled parks and open spaces maintenance.”
He said the timing has also needed to work around the Amohau/Te Ngae Rd resealing, which is now planned to start on January 27.
The council also issued information about the garden maintenance on its Facebook page on Friday.
Some traffic management will be required for safety reasons during work on the gardens in the median strip, and drivers are asked to drive with care during this time.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.