COVID-19 impacting park maintenance work

Some parks maintenance work around Christchurch might be delayed over the coming weeks because the Council’s contractors are experiencing staff shortages.

“Our contractors have a high number of staff isolating because of COVID-19 and that is starting to affect the capacity to complete all the normal park maintenance work,’’ says Council Head of Parks Andrew Rutledge.

“We have worked with them on a plan that will see priority given to the maintenance work that impacts on the health and safety of park users.

“The contractors will be focusing on making sure rubbish bins are emptied and that any issues that potentially pose a risk to the public are addressed.

“They will also be prioritising sports field preparation for organised sports.”

Other park maintenance, such as amenity lawn mowing, will completed as resourcing levels allow.

“Our parks will still be able to be used pretty much as normal, but people may notice the grass being a little more overgrown than usual.

“We know people like to see parks well maintained but please be patient with our contractors as they do their best to manage their workload through the peak of COVID-19 cases,’’ Mr Rutledge says.

“They will get back to normal parks maintenance as soon as possible.’’