A holiday season eyesore in Napier could disappear in the next few days if city council chief executive Wayne Jack succeeds with a request for the removal of four car wrecks that have blotted the landscape near the CBD for the last fortnight.
The wrecks, and a growing amount of other rubbish, are among trees towards the Munro St frontage of the former Napier railways marshalling yard land.
It is also bounded by the Hawke's Bay railway line and Raffles and Sale streets, between the Pak 'n Save Napier and the Napier Senior Citizens Centre, a building which opened in 1991 as the Napier Railway Station but had only 10 years in the role before the last Bay Express passenger service 10 years later.
The site is landbanked for use in treaty settlements and has been used mainly for free and uncontrolled parking for more than 20 years, part from a short period during which it was leased by a private parking provider from government agency Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
Mr Jack hadn't until yesterday been told of the wrecks, but said that while neither the council nor the police hold any authority over the land nor the wrecks he would approach LINZ to get the vehicles moved "immediately."
Napier was hit by a similar problem during the holiday season 12 months ago, when several vehicle wrecks were left on streets in and around the city, in some instances for several weeks.