Trucks use Middleton Park as a "short-cut" through to a building site on Wharenui Rd. Photo / The Wigram
Trucks use Middleton Park as a "short-cut" through to a building site on Wharenui Rd. Photo / The Wigram
A Christchurch construction site has been caught using a council reserve for weeks as a “shortcut’” for their trucks , despite being told by their boss to stop.
According to a council staff member, the gate preventing access to the park had been dismantled by the drivers to gain access to the site.
Riccarton local Peter Simmonds was commuting past Middleton Park on Wednesday when he noticed two trucks driving through the reserve.
The trucks were entering and exiting through the park’s gate - which is usually locked, however it appeared to have been opened for the trucks to pass through.
Their route led them to a building site on Wharenui Rd where construction company, Williams Corporation, is currently carrying out a number of residential projects.
As it turned out, it wasn’t the first time the trucks had passed through the green space.
The trucks were entering and exiting through the park’s gate - which is usually locked. Photo / The Wigram
Jillian Scandrett, who lives near the park, said she’d seen half a dozen instances of the trucks commuting through the park, usually hauling large items on the back of them.
“The first time I saw them was two or three weeks ago, I just assumed they were council trucks,” she said.
Simmonds, who is also the editor of the local publication The Wigram, said the trucks’ use of the park was “incredulous”.
“I was astonished. It’s a lack of respect for the local environment, the local park and the surrounding residences,” he said.
Muddy tyre tracks could be seen imprinted in the grass on Friday, leading from the gate’s entrance to the building site at the back of the park.
When approached by the Heraldon the matter, Williams Corporation general manager Matthew Horncastle said the trucks were contractors employed to do landscaping at the building site.
Horncastle wouldn’t reveal the name of the contractors involved but took full responsibility for the trucks’ actions and said the drivers had made an error in judgement.
Muddy tyre tracks could be seen imprinted in the grass on Friday, leading from the gate’s entrance to the building site at the back of the park. Photo / NZME
“It’s terrible and disciplinary action has been taken,” he said.
“I’m so sorry to the community for having them drive over the park and we’re reinstating it, we’re in communications with the council over it, I’m terribly sorry and disappointed it happened.”
Emails from Williams Corporation to Simmonds showed the drivers had been told not to access the site through the park, in an email sent out on Friday last week - five days before the trucks were last seen commuting through.
It showed the contractors had continued to use the park for transporting goods, despite being told to access the site only through the Wharenui Rd entrance.
Horncastle said the company didn’t feel the need to expressly state every instruction on delivering goods to the site but said more training was clearly needed for contractors involved.
“We need to be working on things like this every day, doing better quality results,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we’re good people who come to work and do our best to build homes for Kiwis - sometimes the man or woman driving in might have a lapse in judgement.”
Christchurch City Council’s Andrew Rutledge, who is Head of Parks for the city, confirmed Williams Corporation had not been given permission to use the park for transporting goods.
He also confirmed the gate’s lock had been dismantled so the trucks could pass through to the site.
“Council staff are monitoring activity,” he said in a statement to the Herald.
“We have made contact with Williams Corp and made it clear that they cannot access the reserve without appropriate permission. We will continue the discussion when their lead project manager returns from leave on Monday.”
