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Puketapu Park Damage
For 18 months Puketapu Park has been left unlocked and users entering the area by vehicle have enjoyed free access.
But now the Hastings District Council has been forced to lock the park thanks to, what a Council spokesperson calls, “petrol heads and hoons.”
Vandals have been using the park to perform wheelies and the damage to the grounds has been significant.
“The park has become a hangout for petrol heads. We have to lock the gate because of this hoon behaviour.”
Council Parks Manager, Derek Thompson said it was too costly to install anti-vandalism devices or to formalise a carpark, both of which would work to stop this kind of activity from happening.
“The park will still be open for people to come in on foot, but they won’t have the convenience of bringing their cars onto the site,” said Mr Thompson.
Puketapu Park foreman Chris Looij said the damage to the park was considerable and,
especially after heavy rain, made the area look like “pig swill”.
“It costs about $700 to repair the grounds every time this sort of thing happens, and it takes time. We have to wait for the ground to dry out before we can start work,” said Mr Looij.
Historically, Puketapu Park was locked and only authorised users were given access, but 18 months ago the Council made a decision to leave the gates open. Since then vandals have regularly misused the site.
“Locking the gates is going to inconvenience a lot of people, but we don’t have a choice,” said Derek Thompson.
“Because of the actions of a few, a great many will be penalised by losing their freedom of access to the park.”
For more information:
Jessica Soutar Barron
Communications Officer
(06) 878 0510 ex. 8629
027 275 5205
