ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO JOHNSONVILLE CAMELLIA DELIVERS 340-PAGE FINDINGS
Eighteen months. Fourteen witnesses. One shrub. Wellington City Council found to have acted "with characteristic indecision".
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Suspension of Footpath Renewal Works at Johnsonville (Broderick Road Sector) has today handed down its findings. On the balance of probabilities, Wellington City Council paused a $180,000 footpath upgrade in July 2023 because of one objecting camellia, and has since done nothing about it!!
The Terms of Reference required the Commission to inquire into the circumstances of the pause, the standing of the objector, and whether the camellia — hereinafter "the Shrub" — held any enforceable rights. Witnesses called included two council arborists, a heritage consultant billing at $340/hour, three Johnsonville residents, and Mena from the café next door (oat flat white, absolute legend!).
"I told them from the start it was Gerald's camellia," said owner Beverley Coutts, 71, referring to her late husband. "They sent me a letter. Then another letter. Then a bloke in a hi-vis who said he'd circle back. He has not circled back."
The Commission heard the consultant produced a 94-page scoping report which concluded further scoping was required. A Wellington City Council spokesperson, under oath, described the delay as "consistent with our engagement framework" and confirmed the footpath was "in a pre-works holding pattern, which is a real thing we say".
Finding 14 is damning: the Council spent $71,400 on reports about the Shrub. Finding 19 notes the footpath is now worse than before works began, half-dug and abandoned around the camellia in what one witness called "a wee moat of shame". Recommendation 31 suggests the Council "just ask Beverley what she wants", a step not previously attempted.
The Shrub is flowering nicely this spring and appears entirely unbothered!
More yarns from Johnsonville Council Chaos
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Reader Letters
★ BarryBishopdale
Back in my day, councils actually got things done without spending a truckload on daft reports about some blooming hedge! This thing only serves as a nuisance to ratepayers. Bloody waste of time and money!
ropeable_dave
The root of the problem lies in the rooted focus on paperwork rather than real solutions.
★ JoannePetone
Honestly, would it have killed them to just ask Beverley in the first place? None of these muppets ever think practically, do they? Yet the council hemorrhages money and time for a shrub!
Garry (Halswell)
@JoannePetone You say practicality, but we're dealing with the council here, the kings of indecisiveness.
couchgremlin
Lol.
★ Margaret_F
In our day, Gerald would have sorted this out with a handshake and a few words over the fence. Now we're stuck in layers of bureaucracy that serve no one.
★ Trev_Hornby
A Commission for a camellia is a massive piss-take of the taxpayer, in my opinion. More council lunacy in the guise of bureaucracy.
tired_in_northland
Is no one going to talk about how a shrub apparently gets more attention than the potholes all over this city? Priorities, anyone?
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