Roadside maintenance

We don't undertake any mowing of verges in the urban area and we rely on property owners to maintain their roadside frontages.

We do undertake some mowing in rural areas to improve visibility at intersections and where sighting distances are limited.

Roadside verges that are adjacent to Council reserves are mowed by contractors on our behalf.

Our noxious weed management plan for the road verges in the District focuses on the control of wild ginger, privet and broom through a spray programme.

Pampas and gorse occurring in isolated patches are also treated by spot-spraying for visibility reasons or where they are interspersed with other noxious weeds.

Where we have implemented our weed control programme, owners of properties next to the road are required to maintain a 10m wide strip of land free of these plants inside each property.

You can find a series of action plans that describe the control of animal and plant pests on the Northland Regional Council website.

Pest Management Strategies (nrc.govt.nz)

Our maintenance of road frontages includes an annual weed spray programme of a 200mm strip along the road seal edge if the frontage is maintained by the property owner.

If the owner does not maintain the frontage, the spray strip is 2m.

Spraying of rural sealed roads is undertaken over three periods, during:

• September to October
• January to February
• April to May.

Unsealed roads are sprayed at the same time, with the exception of the January to February period.

These spray periods are adjusted to suit growth and weather conditions.

If you don't want weed sprays applied to the frontage of your property, please contact us to obtain an agreement to maintain the frontage.

You will need a permit if you want to establish gardens or plant trees etc on roadside verges. Please contact us to find out how to get a permit.

Further information regarding the consent process and criteria for planting gardens and trees on roadside verges can be found in the document below. 

Cultivation of gardens, tree, shrubs or landscaping within a public verge(PDF, 142KB)

We employ contractors to regularly remove rubbish from the kerbs and drainage channels in the urban areas of the city.

There are three zones, each having a different cleaning frequency.

• Zone 1: Central Business District (CBD), roads are swept weekly
• Zone 2: the main arterial roads are swept monthly
• Zone 3: the balance of the roads, mainly in the residential areas are swept every three months.

Some specific areas have been identified that require additional cleaning for a period of eight weeks of the year during autumn.