27 June 2025
File Ref: IRC-8594
Brooklyn RatePayer
[FYI request #31270 email]
Tēnā koe Brooklyn RatePayer
Thank you for your email dated 10 June 2025 to Te Kaunihera o Pōneke | Wellington City
Council (the Council). Your request has been considered under the Local Government
Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA).
•
Has Wel ington City Council ever used indigenous forms of weed control for Darwin's
barberry such as control ed burn-offs?
•
If it has, please provide information about the planning involved, the risk assessment
and the process to undertake this control action - together with the dates it undertook
these burn-offs.
The Council has not used any indigenous forms, such as controlled burn-offs, of weed
control for Darwin’s Barberry.
•
If it hasn't, why hasn't it? Please provide reasons why it hasn't and who made the
decision and when, if a decision has been made not to do them.
Open fires are prohibited on land managed under the Outer Green Belt Management
Plan 2019 which recognises the risk of fires pose to safety, property and ecosystem
restoration (section 4.7.2.2. page 77
outer-green-belt-management-plan.pdf).
The plan was publicly consulted on, adopted by Council in 2019, and provides detail on
the management of Darwin's Barberry by area. The rationale for not control ing the
widespread presence of Darwin’s barberry is based on ecological succession principles. If
left unmanaged for an extended period (exceeding 75 years), Darwin’s barberry wil
eventual y be replaced by native forest.
Please note, we may proactively release our response to your request with your personal
information removed.
You have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(1) of the LGOIMA, to request an
investigation and review of the Council’s decision by the Ombudsman. Information about
how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
If you require further information, please contac
t official[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Asha Harry
Official Information & Privacy
Wel ington City Council
Wellington City Council | 2 of 2
