Disputed whitebait hut on Upokongaro Creek burned to the ground

Bradie Alabaster and Curtis Parker's whitebaiting hut has been burnt down following threats.

The whitebaiting hut at the centre of a stoush in Upokongaro has been burned down.

Bradie Alabaster and Curtis Parker constructed the 3sq mhut on the edge of Upokongaro Creek early last year and used it over the whitebaiting season.

But the hut upset some locals and the Whanganui District Council said it had asked Alabaster to remove it. Things heated up in August last year when a local threatened to burn it down.

Alabaster refused to remove it but last week a friend called to say it had been burned down, just over a month out from the new season.

"I'm absolutely gutted," Alabaster said. "It wasn't doing anybody any harm. To burn it down though, that's just ridiculous.

"I don't think anyone has the right, as Kiwi citizens, to take matters into their own hands."

Whitebaiting season begins on August 15 and Alabaster will be back at the creek but he's not sure if he will rebuild the hut.

"It does really make me want to go right out there and start building another one," he said. "It is on the cards to rebuild it. If I have to rebuild it to make it bigger and better I will."

The remains of Bradie Alabaster's Hut at Upokongaro Creek.

Alabaster didn't have consent to build the hut.

Last year the council's building control team leader, Greg Hoobin, said the hut was on designated road reserve land and required permission.

"The structure may also require resource consent and building consent approval and does not meet the criteria for an exemption under Schedule 1 of the Building Act. Council officers have asked Mr Alabaster to remove the structure."

At the time a local, who didn't wish to be named, said the hut frustrated locals.

"I think it should come down. They didn't ask anyone if they could build it. It looks very permanent and they're building a deck around it. It's not meant to be there."

Others in the area had no problem with the hut.