City councillor plans ‘Mauger’ clean-up on New Brighton beach

Maverick Christchurch city councillor Phil Mauger may once again take the ‘civic’ law into his own hands.

The Burwood Ward city councillor is known for getting things done, sometimes without city council staff permission.

He is still under investigation by the city council for using a digger from his business Maugers Contracting Ltd to cut an unauthorised 70m trench on Pages Rd in Bexley to drain flooding last year.

This time, he has ordered a $22,000 second-hand Cherrington Model 5000 beach cleaner from the United States to try and tidy up rubbish and animal waste on New Brighton beach near the pier and at the four surf clubs along Marine Pde.

Said Mauger: “All I want to do is, really, clean the beach just in front of Brighton and in front of the surf clubs, really. I don’t want to go mad and clean the whole bloody beach up, and if kids want to go and play with sticks and things like that they can do it.

“It will just make it look a lot cleaner.”

In May, the city council fined Mauger’s Contracting Ltd $4000 for repairing 50 lineal metres of road along Birchfield Ave in Dallington without the knowledge of the city council. Two months later, Mauger undertook repairs to a walkway beneath New Brighton’s Anzac bridge without the permission of the city council.

When Mauger spoke to The Star this week he had not told city council staff about his beach clean-up plan.

“I’ve told no one at the council. Nothing. As you know me, I’m better off to ask forgiveness than permission,” said Mauger.

He said city council staff do their best to keep New Brighton beach clean and he is not critical of them.

“There’s nothing at the council that’s made me do it.

“If I see a problem I try and see how I can fix it,” he said.

A city council spokesperson said before the city council decides if it will allow Mauger’s beach cleaner to operate on New Brighton beach “we would need to get a better understanding of what Cr Mauger is proposing and if the machinery he is importing will be effective.”

“Some possible aspects of investigation might include an environmental impact assessment,” said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson believes it is unlikely Mauger will use the beach cleaner without the city council’s permission now that it is aware of his plans.

New Brighton Residents’ Association spokesman Brian Donovan supports Mauger’s plan.

“Him coming along with his machine is going to make a big difference,” he said.

Donovan thinks Mauger’s efforts will be supported by “environmentalists, residents and everybody that has anything to do with the beach.”