Council Dumps Plan To Remove Bins

Friday, 9 May 2025, 8:10 pm
Article: Max Frethey - Local Democracy Reporter

After widespread backlash, Tasman District Council has reversed its decision to remove some rubbish bins and close a few public toilets.

“We don’t always get it right,” councillor Glen Daikee said.

In March, the council narrowly voted to remove some rubbish bins, reduce the frequency of cleaning some public toilets while closing three others, reduce garden bedding displays, and reduce shrub maintenance.

The measures would have come into effect for the last quarter of the financial year – from April to June – to save about $22,000 as the council grappled with a forecast overspend of $2.9 million for its community infrastructure maintenance.

However, the decision received widespread backlash from residents who said the measures were “absurd”, “a joke”, “ridiculous,” and an “insult to ratepayers” on social media.

“We’re listening,” council chief executive Leonie Rae assured residents before the council rescinded its earlier decision on Thursday.

In addition to public feedback, she said the savings also “weren’t as great as we thought they would be” – the council report on the measures in March often referred to total yearly savings rather than the savings for the final three months of the financial year.

Rae said the council would continue to investigate ways to improve services while reducing costs, “but that doesn’t mean to say we’d never take away rubbish tin”.

Despite the decision being rescinded, over the next few years some rubbish bins would still be removed or consolidated in remote areas, accompanied by public education to “pack in, pack out” like on some Department of Conservation reserves.

The council was also going to try and achieve savings by closing some public toilets in underutilised seasons, like the Rabbit Island toilets during winter.

Local sport clubs have also volunteered to take care of cleaning two of the public toilets that would have closed under the council’s decision – the small block at Jubilee Park next to the football clubrooms, and the aging toilet at the Wakefield Recreation Reserve.

The latter toilet block was the subject of a petition signed by more than 50 Murchison residents presented to the council Thursday morning.

Petition presenter Mike Bryan told the council those toilets were often the “first port of call” for those travelling north from Murchison to other parts of the district due to their convenience, especially for elderly residents.

Other cost saving measures agreed to in March that are expected to save just over $120,000 until July – primarily reduced street sweeping and a pause on rural roadside mowing except at critical sightlines – were retained.

Councillor Brent Maru expressed concerns about those measures being retained, saying that unrestricted vegetation growth could be both “unsightly” and “quite dangerous”.

“I’d hate to see that we stop completely doing roadside mowing and kerb sweeping.”

Mayor Tim King said the council had learned that residents were “quite passionate” about bins and toilets through the process.

He added that the contract for the council’s reserves and facilities would be up for review in two years, providing an opportunity to check whether the current contract structure was still appropriate and how the council might “minimise the cost [and] maximise the service delivery”.

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