Page 542 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 18 February 2015
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The same situation applies to the weed infested median strips. I particularly note Mrs Dunne’s reference to Ginninderra Drive between William Webb and Coulter Drive. I noticed that one as well the other week on the dam and I was, frankly, pretty unhappy with it. It is the specific one I discussed with TAMS. I think it got the whipper snipper treatment because I had particularly mentioned that one to them. I know the whipper snipper will only have a short-term effect. The weeds have grown quickly this season, for the same reasons I have just talked about. Weeds normally die off over our hot, dry summer months, but, again, they have had the ability to survive this summer.
As part of the TAMS routine weed control programs, granite road medians are treated with a pre-emergent herbicide that restricts weed growth and generally lasts up to six months, but due to the extraordinary rain during this period the effectiveness of the pre-emergent herbicide has been reduced. Weeds in gaps in concrete medians are also spot sprayed twice annually, in spring and summer, as part of the routine weed control program.
Additional resources have been allocated, targeting weed control. Many medians in Belconnen were treated in late January and early February 2015. However, it can take a while for the weeds to die off. I anticipate that Belconnen residents will see an improvement in the coming weeks. We have made a particular effort to target that area because of the problems that we have seen.
In terms of the observation of our unkempt parks—and I think this goes to some of the previous issues—TAMS has a regular schedule for park maintenance. They are assessed regularly for issues including litter picking, mowing, weed spraying, shrub bed maintenance, graffiti removal, playground maintenance and barbecue cleaning. The frequency of the inspections varies depending on the size and usage of the park. High-use parks such as town parks have a more rigorous inspection program than smaller district or neighbourhood parks. The number and type of inspection each park receives is regularly reviewed and neighbourhood parks requiring additional work maintenance are placed on the winter maintenance program.
Town and district parks are cleaned weekly and neighbourhood parks are generally litter picked monthly prior to mowing. Litter-picking programs are adjusted as required to target areas requiring a specific effort. Rubbish bins are only provided at town district parks and they are emptied as identified during the regular inspections. There is also a range of other treatments, but in the spirit of time I will keep going.
In terms of footpaths, this is an area where I work collaboratively with Minister Gentleman, who is now the Minister for Roads and Parking, but on behalf of the government I will make a few remarks. Regarding the maintenance and conditions of the community path network across the territory, as I have explained before in this place, Roads ACT has a systematic approach to inspections, repairs and replacement of damaged sections of footpath. If an issue is noted as an immediate safety hazard, repairs are promptly completed. Renewal of damaged sections of path that present a less immediate risk are scheduled into larger programs of work in order to ensure that the ACT government gets the best value for money.
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