After their local reserve turned into a boggy swamp area last year, Matua residents are steps closer to enjoying their usual stomping ground once again.

With a summer of heavy rain, Matua resident Michael Esdaile and other locals noticed Shaw Place Reserve was transforming into a diabolical, mud trap in December.

“We noticed all this water running across the footpath, so some of us tried to walk through the long grass to see what was happening.

“It was clear that there were two patches that were complete bogs,“ says Michael.

“One older gentleman actually got stuck! He was walking back up to come up the hill and his walking sticks got stuck in the mud so a passer-by had to help him out. He changed his walking route because he didn’t want that to happen again.”

Michael says there was drainage put into Shaw Place Reserve years ago when the stone harbour wall was built along the reserve’s northern edge.

“[The drainage] just happened to get blocked right around the time we got the heavy rain [in December]. I don’t know if it was grass roots, tree roots, whatever in it, but it finally gave up so then the park got saturated and it didn’t dry and then [council] couldn’t mow it.”

This all set to change however, with Tauranga City Council undertaking works at the reserve last month.

The earthworks at Shaw Place Reserve are due for completion at the end of this week. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

“We’re undertaking minor earthworks at Shaw Place Reserve to help drain some of the excess water that’s been collecting along the public pathway,” says TCC’s principal natural environment advisor Karne Robertson. 

“We’re adding some drainage channels and piping in the reserve to move the water into the current stormwater system.”

Comparing Shaw Place Reserve to other outdoor gems such as Fergusson Park and Kulim Park, Michael says: “It’s great that the love is going to get spread a bit”.

The earthworks are scheduled to be complete by week’s end, weather permitting, with safety fencing remaining in place until the reserve’s grass has grown back.