Aramoho residents are unhappy with Whanganui District Council's footpath upgrades in their area and say the new grass borders are sprouting healthy weeds and not much grass.
Terrace St resident Jenny Tunbridge said she had made approaches to WDC staff to resolve the problem but apart from a contractor mowing once, nothing had been resolved.
"He mowed them off very short and sprayed clouds of dust around and that was it," she said.
Mrs Tunbridge said she was not in the habit of making public complaints but believed that council had not listened, and she was speaking on behalf of neighbours who were unwilling to speak up.
"We had solid tarmac footpaths before and they were in bad condition - it would have been good if we had been consulted before they went ahead and installed these ones."
Mrs Tunbridge said the concrete footpaths with grass strips on either side were installed in November and the grass seeds sown had mostly either blown away or failed to germinate, and the weeds were taking over.
"I wouldn't mind if there were just a few dandelions but there are nasty big thistles and all kinds coming up, and you can't put those on your compost heap," she said.