Plan for mobile homes to boost Lake Ferry Camping Ground

A PLAN to boost the viability of the Lake Ferry Camping Ground by the arrival of 18 permanent mobile homes is to go before South Wairarapa District Council.
Mary and Maurice Tipoki are seeking land use consent for the on-site caravans, to form part of a Heritage Lifestyle Park, being powered sites connected to the sewerage system.
Mrs Tipoki said Lake Ferry Camping Ground is a small business competing with homestays and the campervan industry.
The Heritage Lifestyle Park proposal was part of a plan to develop a "modern, state-of-the-art and sustainable camping ground" that would still be benefiting Lake Ferry in 50 years time.
The mobile homes would be supplied by Leisurebuilt Ltd and are fully relocatable and towable.
On site, the wheels are hidden by the skirt of the caravan being lowered to cover them.
Camping ground regulations allow for permanent caravan parks but limit the occupancy of people staying in them to 53 days at a time.
The 18 caravans would be exclusively designed for holidaymakers and would house two people in each.
Mrs Tipoki said the area to be developed as a Heritage Lifestyle Park is used in summer by people in tents, with between 80 and 120 people there at any one time, being 20 to 30 tents with four people in each.
The season lasted about three weeks with about 1800 people staying during that time.
This puts pressure on the environment through effluent disposal, water supply, space, noise-control and rubbish disposal.
It also put pressure on management through the stress of maintaining facilities and equipment and ensuring " harmonious relationships" among the tent dwellers.
"Yet without a peak period of business as it is now, would not be viable."
Mrs Tipoki said 18 units each having two people over a 50-day maximum meant the 1800 people would be spread out over the whole year.
"Using land in this way doesn't put extra stress on the environment, facilities or management."
The camping ground land is located at the Lake Onoke estuary, bordered to the east by Lake Ferry Road and to the west by the lake.
Mrs Tipoki said the land is generally flat with a gentle slope from the road to the lake.
The mobile homes would be specially designed for coastal conditions, being low structures, and would be painted in muted shades.
The area would be landscaped with native trees and shrubs, many of which are already growing.
When researching the project she and her husband had talked it over with Maori people in the area, read the history of Lake Ferry and surrounding areas and had gathered information from both the Department of Conservation and Victoria University.
"We have also drawn on our own experience as residents of the area over a period of 45 years," she said.
The application by Mr and Mrs Tipoki was on a Maori Standing Committee agenda for discussion earlier this week and will later be considered by the council.