Couple's frustration turns to fear

Neighbours say Kaitaia's Parkdale Crescent playground, and the reserve of which it is part, have been all but abandoned thanks to kids on motorbikes. Photo / Peter Jackson

Frustration has turned to fear for an elderly Kaitaia couple who early this year complained to the Far North District Council about a family who were camping illegally on the Parkdale Crescent reserve.

The couple, who the Northland Age will not name, called on the council to remove the family, their "ramshackle" caravan, wrecked cars and unregistered dogs, seven weeks later the adults finally moving into separate nearby addresses, each with some of the children. Now, they said, the children had taken to riding motorcycles at speed, on the reserve, and on the berm and footpaths in Allen Bell Drive.

"The situation has now escalated to a dangerous level," the neighbour wrote to the Far North District Council, Ngāti Kahu, Oranga Tamariki and the police last week.

"The family are well aware that my wife and I were the persons who complained, and intimidation levels have ramped up in the past few weeks.

"I have been confronted by motorcycles racing close to me whilst walking on the reserve, in deliberate acts of intimidation. This has been reported to the police. The stopping of motorbikes on top of the floodbank two metres from my living room window and the revving of engines, again done to intimidate, have also been reported, sometimes several times a day."

A quad bike rider, who was the most aggressive, had claimed to have been given police permission to use the reserve "as a bike run," but the neighbour doubted that, and police denied it to the Northland Age yesterday.

The resident offered to provide photographic and video evidence of aggressive riding aimed at him and his wife, and of verbal abuse directed at them, saying lack of enforcement by the council or the police was making him increasingly concerned for his and his wife's safety. Meanwhile children and elderly dog-walkers had ceased using the reserve when the motorbikes were about, which they were every day, almost continually during daylight hours.

On Friday afternoon he and his wife had a discussion across their fence with three youths about whether they were allowed to ride their bikes on the reserve. A few minutes later a grass fire was lit on the river bank 80 metres from their house, a witness claiming one of the youths had been responsible. That had been reported to the police as arson.

"We are urgently requesting council action in the form of a trespass notice and a cease and desist order from the courts, and improved barricades at the reserve to prevent vehicle access to protect our neighbourhood's amenities, tamariki and older citizens" he added. He was also seeking a meeting involving all parties.

On Saturday Mayor John Carter asked council staff and police to make contact with the couple first thing yesterday morning.

"This needs to be addressed urgently," he said.

Carter had contacted the couple himself by phone on Saturday, and a senior staff member phoned them yesterday.