The wet weather is once again bad news for the state of our parks and reserves.
Over the weekend, an Auckland Council ride-on mower became bogged down in a park behind Elim Christian College on Botany Road.
The incident comes just months after Auckland Council became inundated with complaints from residents of overgrown grass and unkempt reserves.
The large tractor was last seen mowing the lawns at the reserve before its back end became stuck in a ditch that had flooded with water.
It has been stuck in the mud since Saturday, with half of the reserve left unmown.
Auckland Council head of operational management and maintenance Agnes McCormack says the frequency of mowing has been slowed down by the torrential downpours this month.
“Due to the continued warm weather and amount of rain that Auckland has been receiving, we have been experiencing higher grass growth in our parks and reserves than what is usually expected for this time of the year,” she says.
“The summer heat usually brings about dry conditions which slow down grass growth, but the added wet weather has brought about more spring-like conditions.”
McCormack says contractors will get on top of the additional growth when conditions are dry enough to get mowers on site without risking the machines getting stuck or causing ruts to parks and reserves.
