A Christchurch man has found himself at odds with the council over the berm outside his house after he decided to replace natural grass with an artificial version.
Tim Field recently installed artificial grass in his backyard, and after seeing an artificial berm in another part of Christchurch, he decided to do the same outside his place.
"It would be insane buying a lawn mower for that amount of lawn. Just even starting it, letting it warm up, to mow that little bit of lawn doesn't seem right," Mr Field told Fair Go.
"I rang the landscapers and said can we put it out at the berm and they said no problems sounds like a good idea."
However, his neighbour, Simon Gillian didn't think it was a good idea and complained to the Christchurch City Council.
An inspector then showed up and talked to Mr Field's landscapers.
"He went oh yeah and had a look at the turf and said this is good and went away and I thought that is that," Mr Field says.
The next day he got a phone call from the council saying the inspector was wrong and he wasn't allowed to put down artificial turf on the berm.
Mr Field was confused, so went back to council several times. He even asked for a meeting with them and the complaining neighbour.
They declined, saying he had 10 days to remove the artificial turf and replace it with natural grass.
After Fair Go asked the council for more information, they said Mr Field can actually apply to have artificial grass in his berm – but that the Christchurch City Council does not support the installation of artificial grass in the berm.
Mr Field says he's quite happy out back … where the grass will always be green – and will never need a mow.
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