10 April 2025: Gem St tree, geothermal activity

Media: Local Democracy Reporter

Topic: Tree in Gem St

Enquiry

Further to receiving information RLC provided yesterday regarding a tree in Gem St, the reporter had the following additional questions:

Please provide the dates for site visits and tree assessments referred to, including when the tree was first identified as dangerous.

Diamond said first assessment was Feb 2 when branch came down, branch removed, nothing else until redetermined and tree removed. Please clarify.

You've referred to a phone call after which inspection done and work programmed. He said he emailed on Jan 17, which is about two weeks before the limb fell down.

Was this phone call from someone else and when? When was the work programmed and what was it for? If it was within days of the limb falling, why did it take so long from the email?

Please clarify.

If the matter is being reviewed, as the email to Diamond said, what will this involve, when will it happen and if it has happened what were the findings?

Why has it taken five years plus for the tree register to be publicly accessible?

Response

We provided the following additional information:

Re site visits:

• 29/30 January (it was agreed work was needed to remove the limb overhanging a fence);
• 2 February (when the area was taped off);
• 3 February (after broken limb was tidied up);
• 27 March (when it was agreed the tree should be removed).

Re phonecall: On 17 January council received an email from Mr Diamond rather than a phone call. No calls or emails about this tree were received from anyone else.

Re programming of work: The initial work that was scheduled was the removal of the overhanging limb. The delay was due to a backlog of requests the team was working through at the time which required them to prioritise requests.

Re the review: The review of this matter highlighted that there should have been a more co-ordinated approach to dealing with this issue and to communication with Mr Diamond. We have implemented improvements to ensure that happens in future.

Re the tree register: It has taken time to collect and compile the data and to ensure the public portal functionality works accurately as intended.

*the person who did the first site visit is away sick so we can’t confirm which of these two days it was sorry

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Media: Rotorua Daily Post

Topic: Geothermal activity near QE

Enquiry

Have noticed a bit of activity in the last day in the carpark of QE/Wai Ariki Spa relating to geothermal activity (a lot more steam than usual and the area if fenced off with drilling equipment) and wondered if there had been a blowout in the system etc?

If so is there any information available on this?

Response

We referred the reporter to QE/Wai Ariki Spa and the reporter subsequently replied and said it appeared to be routine work being undertaken.