Whanganui neighbours want street tree gone

Sue Painting and her Castlecliff neighbours want this tree gone. Photo / Stuart Munro

Neighbours in Castlecliff's Cornfoot St are united in wanting a Norfolk Pine tree on the berm removed.

Whanganui District Council officers don't agree, and want to leave it for at least the next six months.

Sue Painting said if the tree falls in the prevailing westerly wind it will hit her next-door neighbours' bedroom. It is close to power lines and other neighbours, and would do damage whichever way it fell, she believes.

Leaves, small branches and cones fall out of it and make "a hell of a mess", neighbour Lorraine Butler said.

Painting wrote to the council about a year ago, enclosing signatures from neighbours who all wanted the tree removed. She wrote again recently, and received a reply from council parks team leader Wendy Bainbridge last week.

Unfortunately it appeared the tree had been poisoned, Bainbridge said. It was showing some signs of decline.

Council arboriculture officer Claire Lilley had looked at it recently, and said it was in no immediate danger of falling.

"Norfolk Pines are renowned for being very stable in windy conditions."

The two would prefer the tree to stay for now. Lilley will monitor it for the next six months and take action if required, the letter said.

In other streetside activism, Painting has asked for a shelter at the bus stop outside her house. She said it was a low-income area, and children waiting for the bus did not have raincoats.

"It gets me, standing here watching these kids getting soaked every morning."

She's been told Horizons Regional Council will be happy to install a shelter there, after Whanganui District Council has gone through a consultation process.

"We have already asked the council to proceed with the consultation process, unfortunately we can't put a timeframe to this although once it has been passed will get the shelter installed as soon as we can," Horizons' transport officer Denise Webber wrote.