Riparian planting along a Pāpāmoa waterway has been given the greenlight one again, but residents want the reserve left alone.

It has been a six year long stoush between Palm Beach West locals and Tauranga City council over planting along the edge of the Te Ara o Wairākei stormwater reserve.

A section of planting in Palm Beach West was halted in 2020 for further consultation with residents and iwi.

Commissioners approved an amended plan for the Te Ara ō Wairākei Landscaping Project on Monday.

Te Ara o Wairākei is a series of stormwater catchment ponds that runs most of the length of Pāpāmoa.

The Te Ara ō Wairākei Landscaping Project is a requirement of the council's stormwater consent from 2015.

The Environment Court ordered two requirements for the council to keep its stormwater drainage consent for the reserve.

These were to create a landscaping plan and a cultural plan and for the Wairākei Reserve, which involved native riparian planting.

The revised planting plan includes larger areas that will be free from planting, enabling water views and access to the water edge.
Key features of the this plan are planting of lower growing native species and the inclusion of more native trees, surrounded by low level planting.

The amended plan was developed after meetings with project partners, local iwi Waitaha and Ngā Pōtiki and resident representatives and user groups.

Prior to planting the waterway was edged by grass and nearby residents want this to remain in the area yet to be planted.

A resident group Friends of Palm Beach Reserve has been formed in response to the plans.

Their main concerns are the aesthetic of the planting and a lack of maintenance says group representative Noel Hall.

The area residents want left are the ponds that run between Gravatt Road and Bermuda Drive, says Hall.

'If you come down to this area on a nice calm morning or afternoon with a nice blue sky and you see these grassy banks down to the water's edge, there is nothing more beautiful than that,” he says.

'Planting is going to grow and the experience of planting in the area up till now has been that it ends up growing one to two meters high, effectively hiding the whole of the bank.

'Because of the lack of maintenance of that planting it looks an absolute mess.”

Palm Beach West locals are upset by the lack of maintenance around current plantings. Photo: Supplied/Friends of Palm Beach Reserve.

In the council meeting commissioner Stephen Selwood highlighted the community's feedback about maintenance.

'One of the key messages that came through from the public meeting, that all commissioners supported, was the need for ongoing maintenance of a high standard,” he said.

Commissioners requested council staff report back on the maintenance and implementation of planting in six months' time.

Hall says based on the past two years he had 'very little faith” the maintenance would be done.

'It is going to require an awful lot of maintenance to maintain it in a reasonable condition,” he says.

'Experience from recent times shows that the council can't be guaranteed to keep that up.”

In the meeting the four commissioners acknowledged compromises had been made by all parties.

Commissioner Shadrach Rolleston said, council and iwi had made tweaks and compromises and the community also needed to.

'At the end of the day we're not going to please everybody and compromises are going to have to be made.”

But the Palm Beach West residents are firm in their view.

Hall says: 'The only thing that would please the people around here is for planting around the Palm Beach ponds to be curtailed and put back to what it was several years ago, because people were really happy with that”.

Despite the amendments, the plan still includes extensive planting along the waterway, encouraging ecological enhancement and restoring cultural recognition and activity in the area.

Colin Reeder, Pou Whirinaki at Ngā Pōtiki, says that their support and involvement represents a commitment to the health and enhancement of the natural environment, not just for tribal beneficiaries, but for all residents of Pāpāmoa to enjoy.

"We view the Te Ara ō Wairākei initiative as an opportunity to preserve what remains of the once extensive Pāpāmoa wetlands and associated habitats that continue to disappear as the area develops. We look forward to the completion of this project,” says Reeder.

Waitaha CEO Vivienne Westwood says the iwi has continued to maintain the importance of restoring the natural indigenous landscape.

'It is these values and relationship with our natural world that benefit the wellbeing of communities, people, and all living things,” she says.

Planting is expected to start in the next two weeks.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ ON Air.