The matter was raised yesterday during the first West Otago Community Board meeting of 2020.
Berm trees on several of the town's streets were pruned by a council contractor during November.
However, in a letter to the board, Tapanui West Otago Promotions (TWO) raised residents' dissatisfaction with the results.
The letter, submitted in November by TWO members Margaret Read and Chris Hughes, claims the group had received ‘‘many phone calls’’ from residents expressing anger and dismay at the quality of the pruning, described as ‘‘brutal and atrocious’’.
It goes on to suggest residents are ‘‘owed’’ a response from the board to address concerns.
Board members reacted strongly to the letter yesterday, arguing the board had followed ‘‘due process’’, including public consultation preceding the works.
West Otago ward councillor Michelle Kennedy said she had ‘‘had enough’’ of complaints.
‘‘[The correspondents] haven't stepped up to prune these trees, just complained once it's been done.
‘‘If you're going to let every Tom, Dick and Harry have their say, why not just concrete over the lot? As a community board we didn't step outside our bounds. We had our berm plan and conducted public consultation.’’
Board chairwoman Barbara Hanna acknowledged the appearance of some trees was ‘‘not ideal’’, but put that down to their advanced age and poor initial condition.
‘‘We conducted this process in good faith on behalf of the community. I Just feel some people are like a dog with a bone ...’’
A TWO representative was not available for comment yesterday, but Durham St resident Faye Barlow said she believed further consultation with the community was necessary to resolve the issue.
She said her street’s flowering cherries of varying ages had been left in a ‘‘sad’’ state following the berm programme.
‘‘Rather than removing the trees that were past their best, they went and planted more saplings a few years ago. Now each autumn the leaves block the drain and the intersection floods.
‘‘We'd be better off starting from scratch with evergreens.’’
