7 Mar 2018

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Public feedback about the scruffiness of some of the city’s riverbanks has prompted changes to Christchurch City Council’s riverbank cutting trial.

The Council stopped cutting the grass from the water’s edge to the top of the river bank along some sections of the Heathcote and Avon rivers on a trial basis at the end of 2016, for ecological reasons.

The longer bank vegetation that has resulted from the trial has improved the bank cover for fish and the habitat for inanga (whitebait) spawning.

But, it has also allowed weeds and saplings to proliferate and has resulted in increased public comments about the messy appearance of some of the banks.

Today, the Council’s Infrastructure, Transport and Environment Committee received a report from staff which outlined their plans for adapting the trial to address the concerns raised.

Long grass overhangs the water of the Heathcote River in Centennial Park.

The Council has been letting grass grow longer along stretches of the Heathcote River for ecological reasons.

The changes planned include eliminating the “no cut’’ zones along the river banks. These areas will instead become “minimal cut zones’’.

“By allowing minimal grass mowing in these areas we hope to able to better balance the ecological benefits of having longer vegetation with community expectations for tidy-looking river banks,’’ says Council Land Drainage Manager Keith Davison.

“The inanga spawning season is under way so there is limited work we can do at present to address the appearance of the river banks. However, a winter cut will be undertaken to remove the excess growth, but we will leave sufficient vegetation length for the next spawning season.

“We’re also going to get our ecologist to develop a long-term planting strategy for these minimal cut zones so they have a mixture of low-stature native grasses and shrubs that provide shade for fish and improved habitat for inanga spawning, but also give the public access to the waterways,’’ Mr Davison says.

With several upcoming Council projects, particularly the dredging and bank stabilisation work planned along the Heathcote River, there were opportunities for the Council to do more work on improving bank habitats.

“The Land Drainage Recovery Programme’s project managers will be working with the Council’s ecologists to maximise the potential ecological benefits of these projects’’ Mr Davison says.