NPDC uses spray as part of the maintenance of roadside grassy berms.
All chemical application is in accordance with the Regional Air Quality Plan under section 65 and the First Schedule to the Resource Management Act 1991, approved 28 June 2011 and in operation effective 25 July 2011.
NPDC appreciates the efforts of residents who maintain their own frontages so that little or no spraying is needed.
Residents can request that their property frontage is not chemically sprayed and undertake to control the vegetation themselves. If the Council approves your application, the contractors will be notified not to spray directly outside your property and your property will be listed on the Council’s no-spray register.
In rural areas the contractor will mark the no-spray area with no-spray marker pegs. The pegs must be the no-spray pegs provided by the Council and residents cannot erect their own pegs.
Residents who choose the no-spray option need to maintain the vegetation on the berm themselves. This includes eradicating invasive weeds and ensuring all roadside signs and markers are clearly visible. Stormwater drainage ditches need to be kept clear of excess vegetation.
No-spray zone application form
Please note:
Only the property owner can request the property is listed on the no-spray register.
If you do not control the weeds in the street frontage of your property, the Council will resume spraying.
You will be contacted annually to confirm you wish to remain on the no-spray register.
Contractors employed by Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport undertake an ongoing vegetation control programme to ensure that roadside vegetation does not affect the safety or operation of the region’s state highway network.
Persons wishing to register their property as a no-spray zone, which requires a commitment to maintain a property’s highway frontage to specifications provided by Waka Kotahi, may do so by contacting Waka Kotahi directly.
We use a variety of herbicides that are bio-toxic (come from plants or animals). These are approved by NPDC to be used, and the list of products is updated annually.
We apply a minimal amount of weed control on the target areas. We spot spray weeds with that chemical that suits each type of weed we are targeting.
The chemicals are safe once dry on the leaf and because we don’t drench the plant, the area is safe for re-entry in as quickly as 10-20 seconds.
We also use a penetrant which makes the spray adhere well to the leaf and helps prevent spray drift. Our operators are highly experienced in chemical handling and are Growsafe certified.
As gardeners who use herbicides will know, it is not usually immediately apparent that weed-killing treatment of plants has taken place. It will normally take up to two weeks to have a visible impact, although this can be affected by weather conditions.
Spraying will be undertaken when the weather conditions are suitable as per Growsafe guidelines. We do all we can to treat weeds at appropriate times. However, we cannot treat them if:
Our operators keep diaries that outline where and when spraying was done and the weather conditions at the time, including wind speed.
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Page last updated: 01:28pm Wed 01 May 2024