Campervan site goes in flooding

A public campervan parking site at Waimarama was washed away in the April floods.

The site at the Airini Rd end of the Waimarama Domain was washed away in the devastating flooding two months ago, along with a council toilet block.

It was one of four overnight camping sites for self-contained vehicles in the Hastings district.

Hastings District council has now removed the site from its Reserve Management Plan.

Changes were also made to the council's monitoring of overnight camping sites at a meeting last week.

Ratepayers currently spend $23,000 a year monitoring four sites in Clive, Clifton, Haumoana and Waimarama to make sure only vehicles with self-contained toilet facilities are parked overnight.

Almost 600 non-compliant vehicles are moved on from the four sites every year, while more than 2600 compliant vehicles use the sites.

But low visitor numbers at the Haumoana site meant there was little need for continued monitoring.

The council agreed to continue daily checks at Clive and Clifton, reducing the cost to $12,000 a year. Both sites also have a donation box, which brought in an estimated $2800 per year.

A proposed law change is being considered to allow councils to apply instant fines for freedom camping offences. If adopted, the council would consider implementing the rules later in the year, but officers said there were few problems at Hastings camping sites, and most campers were responsible.