Late-night havoc day-time danger

Bottle-smashing hooligans are making the Waiwhakaiho River mouth dangerous.

New Plymouth woman Cheryl Forrester is fuming after she walked her fox terriers Blaydon and Tyne on the beach near the river mouth and Tyne's foot was cut and burned by smouldering driftwood and discarded beer bottles.

She has walked her dogs in the area for almost two decades and has watched the vandalism become worse, although it is the first time one of her dogs has been injured.

"I have had enough," Mrs Forrester said.

"It is always messy but it is starting to get beyond that now."

She says the "young people" head to the groyne at the river mouth every night and create their own brand of havoc for others to deal with the next day.

"They dig big holes, build bivouacs and light fires from the driftwood, but this time they actually buried the bottles under the sand.

"It is getting warmer now, what if people want to bring their kids down here? It's dangerous," she said, looking at the scarred remains of a beach fire.

Mrs Forrester has contacted the New Plymouth District Council several times and says they always come and clean up the mess, but she wants something done about access to the area at night.

"I think they should lock gates at 8pm, that should stop them coming in and then what can they do?"

Vehicle access to the river mouth and groyne is through the road at Lake Rotomanu Reserve.

The council's manager parks, Mark Bruhn, said that while the council had considered putting a locked gate on the entrance to the reserve it would not be fair on people who used the lake for recreation.

"Rubbish has been a problem we have battled with for a long time and it is annoying," Mr Bruhn said.

"If we locked the gate we would disadvantage a large part of society who used the area for various activities to stop a pretty poor part of our society."

The safety of people using the area was a concern, he said.

"The council spends a lot of time and ratepayers' money cleaning up rubbish left by people."

The council's roading and parks departments spent a combined total of $860,000 a year for routine cleaning and litter collection around the district.

- © Fairfax NZ News