An example of rubbish dumping in Wairarapa. PHOTO/GWRC
River access on South Featherston Rd has been gated off because of rubbish dumping.
Greater Wellington Regional Council said it had “received some inquiries about why the gate giving vehicles access to the Tauherenikau River on South Featherston Rd has been cut-off by a locked gate”.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had repeated instances of people dumping their rubbish out here; it’s not a pretty sight. Foot access is still available, but we understand this doesn’t work for people with disabilities.”
Featherston Community Board chairman Mark Shepherd said that, to his understanding, the regional council controlled the area, and that their course of action had been to stop vehicle access.
Shepherd said there had been a mix of concrete and general waste dumped at the river site.
“It’s a bit of work to get down there; it’s not like they’re just quickly dumping it on the side of the road.”
Shepherd said solutions had been suggested including installing a security camera, which he said had worked in Gisborne.
“We’re only a few weeks away from Christmas; we need to get on to it as soon as possible so our community can use the river.”
Shepherd said a lot of what was dumped seemed to be from people leaving properties.
Shepherd said it wasn’t hard or expensive to properly dispose of rubbish.
“To dump a tonne of concrete would cost no more than $20, and a yellow rubbish bag is only $1.”
Shepherd said the community would be “better off just dealing with it”, and that they could solve the problem without councils.
“As a community, we need to move forward positively,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd said he wanted to see better communication from all councils to the community board in the future.
GWRC said “until a better solution is found, this is our only choice in regard to stopping insistent dumpers of rubbish. We’re in the process of arranging a ‘no rubbish dumping’ sign for the site”.
GWRC was contacted for further comment, but had not responded at time of publication.
