Pride tames rural roadside

Pride tames rural roadside

Whether or not you think local councils should mow all street berms, some people just get on with it and maintain half their road as well.

For years Bevan and Nicola Lineham and their neighbours Steve and Sandy Thomas have been “good sorts” and between them have kept a long stretch of rural roadside beside the railway lines tidy by mowing lawns, clearing scrub and picking up rubbish.

They’ve never done it for accolades or attention; they’re just taking pride in their street and their town.

Bevan says when they moved to the house more than 30 years ago they got tired of looking out the window and seeing overgrown grass and gorse. So he got out a machete and his push mower and slowly but surely tamed the bush. Ever since, he and Nicola will quite happily spend a weekend across the road keeping it maintained.  

“We just did a bit each time and slowly knocked it back,” he says.

“I threw a few hydrangeas in, some got stolen, but you keep going. It keeps it looking fresh – miles better than it was anyway.”

He planted a walnut tree from a cutting, and when it grew big enough, he tied swings to it so their kids and anybody else could play. Now the kids have grown up and left home, the swings are still there and people still stop.

A newly wedded couple once stopped to have their wedding photographs taken under the tree by the swings “which was pretty cool”, he says.

“We couldn’t believe it. We took photos of them taking photos.”

After all these years Bevan recently shouted himself a new ride-on lawnmower: “I was younger and fitter back then.”

He just has to keep an eye out for rocks from the nearby railway that find themselves in the grass and break mowing blades – all the more reason to keep the grass down.

Bevan’s back plays up now and again so he goes only as hard as he wants. He was out again at the weekend and had knocked back a huge patch of canna lilies and filled the trailer.

“I do what I do without getting carried away,” he says.

“We’re not doing it for any attention. We’re just doing it out of pride for our street. People stop and talk. We just enjoy doing it.” 

It was a similar story for neighbours Steve and Sandy, who are similarly busy mowing, weeding and spraying across the road further south.

“When we first moved here it was a complete jungle, but over time you make things better and we’ve just progressed from there,” Sandy says.

They brought in soil to level the ground for ease of mowing. She says having the grass mown helps deter rodents that once thrived among the dense gorse and fennel.

She says rubbish continues to be a big problem and the area is a site for “fly-tipping” of unwanted furniture and mattresses, and there is a large amount of fast-food rubbish too as it was the perfect distance away from town to eat a burger. 

Meanwhile, as part of a budget review, the  council decided to stop mowing berms from July 1 last year, saving ratepayers $240,000 a year. It later reviewed the decision following a backlash.

The council now mows berms in high visibility areas, including town entrances and specific urban berms along higher-speed roads, prioritising locations where safety and visibility might be affected, at an additional annual cost of $80,000.

Council staff continue to maintain weeds on the roadside, particularly those around poles, posts and other service assets.