Halswell dog walker rips off berm's synthetic grass

A dog walker in Halswell has been caught on securty camera ripping off artificial grass on a berm.

The footage shows a man walking along Cress Street just after 8PM on Monday, when he pauses near a residential house to examine the turf.

After looking around, he pulls back a section of the artificial grass and leaves the scene.

Seconds later, he returns in view of the camera, and tears off the synthetic turf along the length of the berm, as well as a smaller adjacent area, before leaving.

The shocked homeowner told Chris Lynch Media they opted for synthetic grass on the berms as maintaining natural grass became too cumbersome.

“With two toddlers at home, artificial lawns were a practical choice for us.”

The homeowner added, "my wife was quite alarmed by the man, fearing he might return and cause further issues.”

The incident was reported to the police but the resident said he didn’t know who owned the berns.

While Christchurch City Council has no specific regulations regarding artificial turf on berms, in 2019 it told TVNZ, residents could apply to have artificial grass on berms and the council has discretionary powers under the Local Government Act to allow this.

But the council also said that they don't support artificial grass on berms. It has been approached for further comment.

A police spokeswoman said "we received a report this morning that artificial grass had been ripped up at a property and thrown on the driveway at around 8pm yesterday.

"Unfortunately the CCTV doesn’t enable us to identify the person responsible and there are no other lines of enquiry.”