Suburban residents say the quality of Tauranga City Council's road resealing resembles "a dog's breakfast".
Colin Lawrence and other Springfield residents are angry with the "poor quality" resealing on their streets. Photo: Bob Tulloch / Sun Media
"It's just rubbish, absolute rubbish."
Colin Lawrence is describing the road resealing that has been done in the Tauranga subdivision he lives in.
Lawrence and his neighbours are angry that the asphalt that once lined their streets in Springfield subdivision, Hairini has been covered with low cost chip seal.
Loose chips and bitumen are being tracked into homes and one man had a window broken after a stone hit it during lawn mowing.
The road was resealed about a month ago and was swept of excess stones several times.
Roads are typically swept two to three times but Lawrence said it was swept more than that after their complaints to Tauranga City Council.
On Diamond Head where Lawrence lives, the bitumen was wearing in places and loose stones were scattered on the footpath, driveway and gutters.
It was not only the chip seal the residents were upset with but the quality of the workmanship.
"It looks like a dog's breakfast," said Lawrence.
Neighbour Don Barclay agreed.
"The job that's been done is a disgusting job," said Barclay.
"I've spent half my life building motorways in Auckland and maintaining the roads from Auckland to Whangārei and the quality of the job is disgusting."
Norm Empson had his window broken by the loose stones. Photo: Bob Tulloch / Sun Media
What Lawrence found ironic was the asphalt has been left untouched at the end of his cul-de-sac.
"By their [the council's] own admission, chip seal adheres so poorly that if you put it in a cul-de-sac, it'll just scrub straight off when people turn," he said.
"Which speaks to their own knowledge about the quality of the product they're using."
Tauranga City Council director of transport Brendan Bisley said asphalt had been retained in the cul-de-sac as tight-turning movement makes it hard for chip seal to remain stuck.
Lawrence was also frustrated by the lack of communication from council.
"We got notice from the contractors 24, maybe 48 hours before work commenced that resurfacing was going to take place," he said.
"But of course, there was no mention in there that this nice road surface you currently enjoy is going to disappear and we're going to cover it in this crappy stone chip.
"There's no mention of the massive downgrade that you get and council are just completely intransigent about it."
Local Democracy Reporting asked the council why the residents were not told about the type of resurfacing to expect when they were notified of the work.
Council did not respond directly to the question.
Bisley said asphalt was only used on high volume streets that see 10,000 vehicles per day as the traffic volume requires a hardwearing surface and chip seal would not be able to provide this.
"Council policy is to resurface residential streets with chip seal as this provides the waterproofing required and a chip seal will last 12-15 years in most residential streets before it needs renewal," said Bisley.
He said this policy had been in place since 2011.
It was something Tauranga residents were only becoming aware of as the asphalt in their streets reached 20 to 25 years old, when resurfacing was needed.
"With the rapid growth of housing in Tauranga there are a number of areas in the city that were developed in the 1990's that are coming up for renewal," Bisley said.
"When subdivisions are built, developers typically use asphalt as it is harder wearing when houses are being built and is able to cope with the turning movements of the trucks delivering building materials.
"It is also a marketing feature to make subdivisions more attractive for purchasers."
Colin Lawrence with a tiny portion of the stones that are tracked into his home and driveway daily. Photo: Bob Tulloch / Sun Media
Springfield locals were not the only ones annoyed by the council's choice of chip seal.
A petition was signed by 66 Bethlehem residents living in Pembroke Drive, Allington Street and Saltwood Street calling for the reinstatement of asphalt on their road.
Petition organiser John Laing said it was not only the loose stones and bitumen causing problems but the noise from cars driving on it.
"The actual noise that comes off these stones is terribly annoying," said Laing.
"The cars or trucks going through roar and rattle."
The resealing was done in mid-2021 and Laing presented the petition at a council meeting in August.
During the meeting commission chair Anne Tolley suggested the possibility of a targeted rate for residents to help fund the asphalt.
Seven months on and the chip seal remained and Laing said "council haven't done anything all".
Cost was a priority for resealing with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency funding contingent on using the most cost effective option.
"Council receives a 51 percent subsidy on roading works from the government via Waka Kotahi, and as part of this process needs to consider what is the most cost effective treatment," said Bisley.
He said in residential streets this was chip seal.
"If asphalt was used on residential streets, council would need to fund 100 percent of that cost and it could be up to five to 10 times more expensive than chip seal."
Local Democracy Reporting asked the council for the cost of chip seal per m2 and the cost of asphalt per m2, but it did not provide the answer.
Lawrence said with a proposed rates rise of 13.7 percent the resealing was "appalling".
"The roads haven't cost council a bean in maintenance for 25 years," he said.
"The first time they were asked to put their hand in their pocket, we have to have the cheapest option.
"As a resident and a rate payer enjoying rate increases, that you can be downgraded by your council by a policy sticks in my craw."
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
