Stemming the loss
THE council has moved quickly to replace up to 800 of the city’s roses poisoned by Round Up. At Tuesday’s meeting councillors allocated $25,000 to replant the stocks in parks and gardens in time for next year’s Rose Festival.
They’ve also called for a full report into the bushes’ poisoning in Victoria Park, Pockley garden at south Goulburn, Tenison Woods and Howard Park. Rose committee members told the Post this week they saw council staff spraying weeds and grass with round up beside rose bushes in the past three or four weeks.
They suspected drift in windy weather had caused the deaths. However engineering services director Terry Cooper said records showed staff had not used the chemical for the past six weeks.
They had nevertheless used insecticide.
“It’s our view they have been poisoned with Round-Up,” he said.
“…It looks like they’ve been deliberately sprayed because the damage is targeted.” Mr Cooper said spray drift would have only damaged the outer areas.
His department has sent roses and soil for chemical testing. A report will come back to the November 2 general purposes meeting at the earliest. Councillors wanted the matter dealt with urgently.
General manager Chris Berry assured them it was being treated seriously. The decision followed an address by Leigh Bottrell on behalf of the Rose Committee in open forum.
He detailed 320 bushes killed in Victoria Park, 160 in the Pockley garden, 74 at Phyllis Rudd, 32 at Tenison Woods and 10 at Howard Park.
On Wednesday, Cr O’Neill and the committee discovered more than 120 dying roses at McKerlie garden on the corner of Cowper and Clifford Streets and 10 at Honour Park in Braidwood Rd.
Story continued in Friday’s Goulburn Post