The railway line has been left unattended since a fence was put up, leading to the surrounding plant life growing into the nearby carpark.
Gore district councillor Rob McKenzie said the surronding area had been left to its own devices.
‘‘Before the fence was put up by KiwiRail, they would look after that piece of land, and spray it.
‘‘Since they put it up, they haven’t touched it. It’s like a jungle,’’ he said.
Mr McKenzie said there had to be some responsibility taken.
‘‘It’s not our problem, it’s KiwiRail’s. It’s their land.
‘‘If that was your house, or my house, we would be getting told to clean it up,’’ he said.
Mr McKenzie said he was worried the cleanup was going to fall at the feet of the ratepayer.
‘‘My feelings are it’s going to be council staff who have to clean up this land.
‘‘I don’t want to see the ratepayers penalised indirectly by the council cleaning it up,’’ he said.
Mr McKenzie’s worries ended up proving correct, as the council stated in an email the cleanup would be done by their staff, at a minimal cost.
‘‘The costs to the council, both in time and money, are minimal.’’
‘‘KiwiRail is under no obligation to mow this area. Our team have decided to upkeep it in the interests of town beautification — something our parks team are excellent at.’’
Mr McKenzie said this was terrible news.
‘‘That is exactly what I don’t want to happen. It should be KiwiRail looking after it. Not the council.
‘‘I don’t know what the cost would be, but it’s going to be at least half a day’s work.
‘‘We’re supposed to be cutting costs.’’
Mr McKenzie said there needed to be some kind of compensation for the work being done.
‘‘If KiwiRail wants to pay the council to do it, that’s fine. But they need to contribute to it financially,’’ he said.
KiwiRail did not respond to The Ensign’s inquiries by publishing deadline.
