Ocean Beach to be locked to vehicles overnight

Vandalism and illegal overnight camping has forced landowners to ask the Hastings District Council to put a gate across one of the region's most popular beaches.

Ocean Beach will be locked from vehicle access from 8pm to 8am every day following an agreement by Maori and private landowners, as well as the Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club.



Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said a location for the gate had yet to be determined, but people would still be able to walk down to enjoy recreational activities on the beach such as fishing, swimming, walking or surfing.

Landowners, the surf club and emergency services would have keys to open the gate if needed.

"It's the vehicles we want to stop getting on to the reserve. People will still be able to access the beach on foot," Mr Yule said.

"There's been a lot of people parking up there overnight, causing vandalism and getting into other things that the landowners have told us they want to stop."

The gate would be opened and closed by council staff and operated in a similar fashion to other public spaces that were closed at night, such as the Waimarama Domain and Bluff Hill in Napier.

Public access to Ocean Beach has been enjoyed for many years over privately owned Maori land.

The council paid an access fee each year so the public could travel from the road, across the private land, and on to the public reserve near the beach.

"We do, or the ratepayers do, pay a small fee to access the beach. We are in the throes of negotiating a new rental process at the moment, but that has nothing to do with the decision to gate the beach at night," Mr Yule said.

The beach would be open during day hours as per normal.

"It's all about managing the after-hours activities which are damaging the reserve and in other cases are illegal."

He said the matter didn't need to go before a council committee because it had been a decision reached and agreed upon by landowners at Ocean Beach.

"It's not a huge policy decision; we are not charging for access to the beach or anything like that. It's just simply making sure people in vehicles aren't getting in and out of there throughout the middle of the night."

The gate would be installed before the end of the year and the situation reviewed regularly.