Cottages to stay, campers go

The owners of this Waipu campground have applied to convert the site to retirement living for 58 people. Photo / Supplied

Out with the tents and in with the retirees. A Waipu campground is making a bid to get on board the gravy train chugging along as a result of Northland's ageing population.

If a land-use change consent lodged with Whangarei District Council is successful, the 90-guest Waipu Cove Cottages and Campground will become a retirement living facility for 58 residents. The village would use the holiday park's existing cottages and would not require new dwellings to be built.

The campground set for the change is beside an estuary and was about 800 metres along from the larger Camp Waipu Cove.

Waipu Cove Cottages and Campground's website described the site as being only a few metres' walk to a safe swimming, good fishing, white sand beach.

"Relax on the decks and enjoy the sounds of the surf tumbling over the shells or discover the bird life while you walk the shoreline."

Campground owner-operators Sharleen and Paul Voss, who established the park in 1997, said they would like to refrain from commenting on their application during the consenting process.

"Like some other holiday park owners, we're just looking for a different way of making our income," Mr Voss said.

The couple said in their consent application that the retirement village would "cater for New Zealand's ageing population and is better aligned to [ our] overall aspirations as live-in managers on the site".

As of August, there were about 1200 people living in Northland's 17 retirement villages - up from around 900 in 2013.

Latest figures from the 2013 Census show 18.3 per cent of people in Northland are aged 65 and over, second only to Marlborough's 20.5 per cent.

Retirement Village Association executive director John Collyns said Northland's high population of older people was being seen in the expansion of the retirement village sector in the region.

Retirement villages were generally for those aged 75 and over and about 10 per cent of Northland's 151,692 population were in that age group.

The Vosses said in their resource consent application that the number of vehicles going on and off the property each day would likely decrease as a result of the change, from about 333 traffic movements to an estimated 215.

They also had written support in their application from their closest neighbour.