Aberdeenshire Council said its snow-clearing bills were soaring and if the community pitched in more, it would keep rates down.

Mark Warren, who took over his family farm in Waipari on the East Coast of Central Hawke’s Bay in 1984, said New Zealand needed to have the same attitude, and doing so would save ratepayers significantly.

“Ratepayers should be demanding efficiency and using local machinery on or near the spot to do critical work rather than forking out thousands for a contractor to come and do what a farmer could do in 10 minutes,” Warren said.

Central Hawke’s Bay District Council’s group manager of infrastructure and asset management Mark Kinvig said the council had significant responsibilities under the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015 to ensure work was carried out safely.

For that reason, contractual arrangements needed to be in place for any work after severe weather, he said.

“The council also needs to ensure that any road-related work funded by council and NZTA is properly commissioned and represents good value for money."

He said for those reasons, formal arrangements with contractors would always need to form a core part of the council’s response and tree management approach.

Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson, who has seen firsthand what locals can accomplish during weather events, says Warren’s suggestions are reasonable.

“It has happened in our district,” Watson said.

“The attitude for most councils is to say thanks and turn a blind eye.”

In February, farmers and locals cleared fallen trees and slips on a rural road in the Rangitīkei district following a storm that trapped about 20 cars.

Watson said, beyond the obvious safety aspects, slips were a challenge to handle.

Regional council rules meant debris could not just be pushed into rivers, and council contractors often had to cart soil from slips over large distances to comply, he said.

Warren said he wanted conversations to come up with solutions to problems, because red tape was “strangling common sense”.

The 4WD enthusiast spent years rallying in his purpose-built Toyota Land Cruiser before turning his expertise into a career teaching thousands of people to survive driving in tough conditions.

“I’ve cleared roads before, and then half an hour later, a truck with a huge digger on the back comes looking for the problem.

“I have no issue with the job contractors do, and understand they are trying to make a profit, but if locals can do it, it could help ratepayers.”

He said there was always a rotating blame game over why it was unworkable.

“Central government makes unworkable rules and the CHB Council, along with all other councils, must abide by them.

“Council seems more worried about protecting themselves than saving money.”

Kinvig said the council was open to exploring with local communities and farmers the potential for them to assist with emergency response activities.

“We don’t have a formal arrangement with farmers for clearing Central Hawke’s Bay’s roads.

“If there was one, before anything was formalised, we would need to map out the work and the risks of doing that work, so the farmers would be able to do the appropriate health and safety training/certification related to that work to ensure their safety and that of other road users,” he said.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.