A working group has reached a consensus to remove some of the contentious bollards around the Upper Hakatere Reserve. Photo: LDR / Jonathan Leask
Cars could once again be able to drive up to a popular Canterbury picnic spot and lookout - at least for now.
Bollards will be removed from the upper Hakatere reserve on a trial basis in a compromise everyone "can live with".
Hakatere Huts is a coastal settlement at the Ashburton/Hakatere River mouth, which splits into two parts - upper and lower.
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Locals were shocked when wooden bollards were installed in February 2023 to block vehicle access and the upper camping area was closed.
A working group - made up of three Ashburton councillors and three Hakatere Huts residents - reached an agreement last week to recommend the bollards be removed on a trial basis. The camping ban would remain.
Working group chairperson Russell Ellis said their recommendations would go to council, which would make a final decision on 20 August.
"We reached a compromise that we think the Hakatere community and council can live with.
"We all agreed the bollards, that currently stop vehicles driving onto the upper picnic area, should be removed on a trial basis."
Ellis said while not everyone agreed that camping should be prohibited in the upper picnic reserve, there was a majority support for it to be banned.
Camping was available at Lower Hakatere.
One of the community representatives, Gary Clancy, said the recommendation was a step in the right direction.
"It's not the preferred option, but we are someway to getting got one of the two things we had asked for," he said.
It was the first meeting of the working group since a kerfuffle over the council releasing a working group decision in June, which had not actually been agreed on.
Council chief executive Hamish Riach issued an apology at the time, accepting a report to the council "contained a misstatement" and that the decision would be revoked with the working group to meet again.
Council representatives were set to visit the reserve this week, to mark which bollards were proposed to be removed.
If the working group's recommendation was adopted by the council, the upper reserve would be monitored over the summer for illegal camping and the situation reviewed.
Signs would be erected to help guide picnickers and campers to the Lower Hakatere camping area where the council planned to build new toilets this year.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.