Tauranga residents Meyric and Lyn Bellerby are often found hauling out weeds in the undergrowth in Johnson Reserve at the edge of Waipuna Park in Welcome Bay.

Meyric and Lyn Bellerby are passionate about looking after Johnson Reserve. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

The couple moved to Waipuna Grove in 2003 and their property backed onto the reserve, which was then full of blackberry and gorse.

A project to clean up the reserve was started by local resident Tony Burgess-Short under the banner of Weed Busters, and Meyric was keen to join in and help clean up his new backyard.

'At the time, the area they were clearing was not accessible by road, so a horse and cart were brought in to haul out tonnes of blackberry and gorse,” says Envirohub Bay of Plenty's greenspace coordinator Tania Gaborit-Haverkort.

When Tony moved on, Meyric and Lyn continued to treat Johnson Reserve as an extension of their garden, and have done so for the last nine years.

They spend one morning every week weeding down in the reserve along with another dedicated neighbour Peter Cooper. The couple has enjoyed working together with their neighbours during the years to help remove weeds, plant natives, and attempt to control rats – with support from Tauranga City and Bay of Plenty Regional councils, along with additional support from the Urban Greenspace project from 2007-2009.

'The Urban Greenspace Project supported neighbourhood groups to adopt and care for local reserves in urban areas. Unfortunately, the project lost government funding at the end of 2009, resulting in most of the groups losing touch with each other,” says Tania.

This year, Envirohub BOP secured seed funding via the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's annual plan to look into the redevelopment of the Greenspace project.

Meyric says he is 100 per cent behind the Greenspace project being re-started.

'It is a great way to encourage community involvement. If you're part of a care group, you're interested and engaged with your local community.”

Envirohub will be hosting a series of community get-togethers during the coming months to give people the opportunity to share their visions for their neighbourhood Greenspaces.

Meeting times are:

November 18, 12-1pm, at Te Puke Settlers Hall, 130 Jellicoe St, Te Puke (next to Library).

November 19, 12-1pm, at Welcome Bay Community Centre, 242 Welcome Bay Rd.

November 25, 12-1pm, at Katikati Community Resource Centre, 45 Beach Rd, Katikati.

November 27, 12-1pm, at Greerton Hall, 1263 Cameron Rd, Greerton.

November 28, 12-1pm at Arataki Community Centre, Zambuk Way, Mount Maunganui.

December 10, 12-1pm at Maketu Community Centre, 670 Wilson Rd North, Maketu.

For further information, call Tania on 07 578 6664.