A year after Rangitāiki ward councillor Gavin Dennis made a request for the repair of footpaths in Edgecumbe, Whakatāne District Council staff are investigating the situation, “as a matter of urgency”.

The degradation of standards in rural towns was the subject of an announcement by the councillor at a meeting of the infrastructure and planning committee at Whakatāne District Council last week.

The state of footpaths in Edgecumbe had led to multiple accidents he told councillors and staff.

He said sunken paving stones in the Edgecumbe business area were a trip hazard and drew unfavourable comparisons between footpaths in poorer, rural towns and those in Whakatāne and Ōhope. He was also critical of the amount of time it took for complaints to be addressed.

"It is 365 days since I put in a request for service in to get the Edgecumbe cobblestones done,” he told the meeting.

This was mostly due to sunken areas caused by fibre broadband being installed in shops, tree roots lifting the stones and bollards installed in front of shops to prevent ram-raids. He said where cobblestones had been replaced, a different coloured stone had been used making the repair look untidy.

He said it had been an ongoing problem since he first became a councillor in 2019, when an accident drew the issue to his attention.

“An old lady tripped over a raised cobblestone, broke her nose, broke her wrist, broke her kneecap and was bruised from head to toe … Since then I’ve been trying to help staff by letting them know when it’s been really bad.”

He said that on August 11 last year, he made a request for service in Edgecumbe because there were “massive potholes” where the footpath had been dug up for fibre to be laid. A child on a bicycle had nose-dived into one and was propelled over his handlebars, resulting in injuries.

“When I checked up in September to find out what had gone on we found out that staff were too busy renewing footpaths that didn’t need renewing in Ōhope and Whakatāne. So I waited until October and nothing, still, had been done to some really bad potholes.”

At that time, some of the worst holes were fixed and he was told the rest would be “done by December” but it had never happened.

"I was at an Edit (Edgecumbe Development and Improvement Team) meeting in Edgecumbe last night and one lady there had just tripped over the week beforehand and grazed her knees, so the injuries are ongoing in Edgecumbe.”

Mr Dennis said he was “quite shocked at how terrible (the footpath) was looking.”

“Edgecumbe used to be a really busy, focal point to the plains and it’s just degrading.”

Crumbling kerbs, sinking cobblestones, protruding tree roots, moss and poorly replaced cobblestones are just some of the issues that are degrading Edgecumbe’s town centre and causing tripping hazards.

He mentioned Matata, Murupara and Te Teko as “some of our other poor towns out in the rural area that aren’t getting the attention they should” and that the issue of crumbling footpaths had also been brought up at the Matata Residents Association meeting he had attended that week.

“At some stage we have to stop the degradation of the standards of our rural towns.”

He asked staff to put together a report for the next meeting about why the standards in rural areas were falling so badly and when they could expect something to be done.

Local Democracy Reporting requested information from the council regarding its maintenance schedule for footpath renewal and whether they were the same for rural towns as they are for Whakatāne. The council said it was unable to provide a response by publication time.

Infrastructure general manager Bevan Gray said, “Whakatāne District Council staff are investigating this situation as a matter of urgency and will provide an appropriate, comprehensive response once on-site investigations have been completed”.

Small team making a big difference

Edgecumbe Development and Improvement Team (EDIT) is a volunteer group of 10 Edgecumbe residents who, over the past decade, have organised, campaigned and put in hours of work on beautifying Edgecumbe.

They have been responsible for many town improvement projects, such as the Welcome to Edgecumbe sign and gardens on the corner of Hydro Road and State Highway 2 at the entrance to town, the riverbank walkway, many town murals, lighting installations and seating.

EDIT president Matthew Bryson said he was proud of how good the town was looking compared to how it was when he first joined the group in 2013.

As well as trip hazards from uneven cobblestones he pointed out some of the issues on Edgecumbe’s footpaths, such as moss making slip hazards, particularly in front of the pedestrian crossing on College Road, and lights on top of the pedestrian crossing poles that hadn’t worked for several years, the kerbing was crumbling hadn’t been replaced in years.

Whakatane’s central business district shows much tidier looking footpaths.

“I think it’s important to have a feel-good vibe about the town because if things are looking good it lifts everyone up. We want to continue to beautify the town and encourage other people in the community to get on board with Edit. There’s only nine or 10 of us and we can’t do it alone, although we do get a lot of support for our projects from the Rangitāiki Community Board, the council’s open spaces gardening team and Fonterra.

“We can’t do this on our own, and many hands make light work.”

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.