PONSONBY PETITION TO BAN LEAF BLOWERS BEFORE 10AM SUNDAY — BLOKE DOING THE BLOWING HAS ALSO SIGNED IT

A petition to ban leaf blowers on Ponsonby streets before 10am on Sundays has hit 214 signatures in four days. That's more people than have ever agreed on anything on the Franklin Road neighbourhood Facebook page.

Organiser Priya Wallace, 39, said it kicked off after a neighbour spent 47 minutes last Sunday shifting what she counted as "maybe nine leaves" off his driveway and onto hers. "It's a townhouse! He's got a strip of concrete the width of a yoga mat. He's not clearing leaves, he's making a point, and the point is loud."

Tomasz, who does my flat white on Ponsonby Road and hears absolutely everything, reckons a decent chunk of the signatures aren't even local. "Three said they were 'passing through and felt strongly'. One of them lives in Herne Bay!" The petition has since added a clause banning Herne Bay residents from signing it. Two more Herne Bay residents have signed that.

The neighbour, Graeme Sutherland, 61, confirmed he had signed the petition himself. "I'm not against a ban. I'm against her Range Rover reversing across my berm every Friday. The leaves are just the medium." He starts at 7.15am, he said, because "the wind's from the south then and it carries into her hedge". He now does Wednesdays too, "for consistency".

An Auckland Council spokesperson said existing noise rules "apply in principle". A report into the street's complaints does exist. It will not be released, in case doing so puts residents off sharing "free and frank" views about each other's gardening. The nearest noise control officer was, at time of writing, in Remuera dealing with a tree.

At 7.10am this Sunday Sutherland was on his driveway with the leaf blower, fully fuelled, switched off. He did not turn it on. He just stood there holding it and looked at her window. Priya says it was honestly worse!