live public web page · 4 sections indexed

Whanganui District Council Street Tree Strategy 2016 (cached extract)

Text capture of public Tree Truck material. The link opens the live original. Nothing here came from a Tree Truck system.

Section 1

The strategy's own status: approved 2016, review due 2021, replacement signalled

The council describes the document's standing itself: "The Street Tree Strategy sets out the council's aspirations for the management of street trees and provides the basis for decision-making on street tree issues. This strategy is scheduled to be replaced by an action plan in the short future." The strategy was approved by council on 31 May 2016 and the document states "Date by which a review should be carried out: June 2021". No replacement action plan was found published as at 29 August 2026, so this remains the most recent public strategy document and it is a decade old with a review date five years past. That is worth saying out loud whenever it is cited: it is current in the sense that nothing has replaced it, not in the sense that it has been reviewed.

Section 2

The contract specification is the document that actually governs the work

The strategy is explicit that the operational detail sits in the contracts, not in the strategy: "The Council's arboriculture contracts set specific details of how the Council will manage its trees, including tree planting, maintenance, renewal and removal. The Council faces high maintenance costs due to the large number of mature trees, and the need to meet clearance requirements from overhead services. Historical pruning techniques (such as pollarding) have also resulted in increased costs due to the need for repeated works and sometimes removal and replacement due to the structural weakness/decay that these works have caused." So a question about how a job must be done is answered from the maintenance specification, and a question about why the council holds trees at all is answered from the strategy.

Section 3

Monthly safety audits of tree contractors, written into the strategy's action plan

Goal 2 of the strategy's action plan is "To regularly inspect and manage public trees to the best industry standards", and two of its actions bear directly on any contractor working council land. Action 2.2 is to "Ensure tree contracts adhere to arboricultural standards", with the stated outcome "Robust auditing procedures for contractor and focus on key performance indicators" and "Close attention will be paid to the quality and timeliness of works provided to the council." Action 2.4 is to "Fulfill legal obligations with regards to health and safety", delivered by "Maintain monthly safety audits on tree contractors working on council land" and "Maintain monthly traffic safety audits on contractors working on council land." The outcome recorded against it: "Regular auditing will reinforce the council approach to safety to contractors and satisfy the council's requirement to do what is practical to minimise risk." A contractor that can produce that evidence on the day it is asked for is answering a commitment the council has already published.

Section 4

Power lines over Whanganui streets, and the council's exposure if conditions are missed

The strategy states the local problem in the council's own words: "Whanganui has many streets where mature trees are growing beneath overhead power lines. Network utilities (electricity, gas, water, wastewater and telecommunications) and the road controlling authority (Council or the New Zealand Transport Agency) have specific rights of access to and use of the road corridor which are defined in legislation. A network utility operator has the power to set reasonable conditions on other network operators to protect safe and efficient functioning of their asset. This may mean requests to prune or remove trees." And on the consequence: "Recent electricity regulations require trees to have greater clearance from power lines. These regulations mean that pruning of large trees to provide clearance can affect the health and form of the trees resulting in loss of aesthetic value. There are also likely to be high maintenance costs to prune these trees on a regular basis. Failure to meet conditions of the network utility can mean the Council will be open to litigation by network operators." The legislation list in the same document names the Electricity (Hazard from Trees) Regulations 2003, the Resource Management Act, the Local Government Act 2002, NZS4404:2010, and New Zealand Arboriculture Association best practice guidelines.