Whanganui’s 12,000 footpath faults explained in new council document

Whanganui Alliance staff forming a footpath on Guyton St. A report identified 12,000 faults in Whanganui’s footpath network this year. Photo / Bevan Conley

More than 12,000 faults in Whanganui’s footpath network were identified earlier this year but confusion surrounded how they were graded.

However, a new document from the Whanganui District Council should lift the lid on the rankings.

Transport manager Damien Wood said the contractor who undertook the footpath network assessment used non-Whanganui examples to explain its system.

That had now been modified.

“The process contained a set of criteria for the assessment of the fault severity - these criteria were not well defined for [council] staff members or members of the community,” Wood said.

The new council document, available on its website, highlights the one-to-five scale used, with five indicating the footpath has dangerous vertical displacements exceeding 20mm, is disintegrating or badly settled, is missing sections or has unstable slabs.

If the footpath is graded as a five, major work or replacement is required urgently.

Three means significant deterioration is evident but with no immediate risk for health and safety without major repairs for up to three years, and four signals the footpath is unlikely to function without major repairs or replacement within one year.

The 12,000 faults recorded were only for severities three, four and five, Wood told a council operations and performance committee meeting.

“Not all severity five faults are able to be repaired at the moment.

“In some instances, they are part of a much bigger stretch that needs a renewal programme which we don’t have in our current financial year.”

He said budget constraints also impacted his team’s ability to tackle all the faults identified.

The Chronicle reported in July about double amputee Michael Barry, who fell out of his wheelchair after hitting tree roots in a footpath on Harper St, Gonville.

Wood’s report to the committee said throughout New Zealand about 700 pedestrians were admitted to hospital each year as a result of slips, trips and stumbles in the road environment - including the footpath.

The council conducted a detailed inspection of footpath faults every three years, it said.

In April, the council approved an additional $1.72 million in debt funding to cover roading work for the rest of the financial year.

Before that, the budget for maintenance, operations and renewals for its roading programme was set at $13,383,569.

That will need to increase to $25m by 2025/26 to match network need.

Members of the public can take photos of damaged footpaths and report them through the council’s website or via the Snap Send Solve app.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.