Easter vandalism of Gore's road safety initiatives condemned by council

Tuesday, 6 April 2021

More than 440 concrete trough planters have been installed on Gore’s streets, but the district council is calling for people to stop vandalising them.

The Gore District Council is condemning more widespread vandalism of planters, signage and other initiatives installed on the town's streets as part of its Streets Alive initiative.

Throughout March, a series of initiatives designed to make Gore’s streets safer, more accessible, and to promote being more active were installed throughout the town, as part of a three-month trial.

But over Easter, concrete planters have been tipped over or rolled away, signs and road cones have been knocked over, wheel stops have been damaged, and artificial grass has been ripped up.

On Tuesday morning, police had to call out a council contractor because planters that had been vandalised were creating a hazard.

The Gore District Council called for an end to the vandalism of concrete street planters that were installed as part of its 'Streets Alive' trial. The vandalism continued during the Easter break.

* Gore council calls for end to vandalism of road safety features

* Changes to Gore's streets coming as 'Streets Alive' programme begins

* Gore's Streets Alive trials to be rolled out in March

Council roading asset manager Peter Standring said there was a cost to the project, and therefore to the council, every time contractors had to go out and fix items that had been vandalised.

”The project covers the cost of a maintenance person that goes around and waters and weeds the planters, but there’s nothing in the budget for the additional cost of standing up planters and that sort of thing,’’ he said.

”The police are fully aware of it, and they’ll be keeping an eye out for any incidences, because people are putting them into a dangerous position on the road.’’

Despite the vandalism, the council was committed to seeing the three-month trial through, he said.

”It is in response to what the community wanted, and we are seeing some of the objectives already being met, with less speeding and less heavy vehicles on some streets.’’

More than 440 concrete planters have been installed on Gore streets as part of the programme, pocket parks have been installed and seating has been provided in Irk St as part of the initiative.

The council called for an end to vandalism soon after the planters were installed last month.

”We hope it's just kids doing it,'' Standring said.

The council has spent $100,000 on the project, with a further $900,000 coming from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Innovative Streets fund.