Residents outraged with continued dumping on rural road

People are repeatedly dumping rubbish along Ngatarawa Rd. Photo / Paul Taylor

Continued dumping on Ngatarawa Road has residents up in arms.

Residents have reported seeing the first lot of rubbish appear on Wednesday morning, with more added on Friday and Saturday night at the Hastings Aerodrome Viewing area opposite the Bridge Pa Aerodrome, as well as at the other end of Ngatarawa Rd on Saturday night.

Resident Heather McCardle said it was not the first time, with rubbish popping up on her stretch of road every couple of weeks - although it is usually on the side of the road.

Previously, there has been a laundry list of items, including old televisions, couches, suitcases full of shoes and, perhaps most shocking, a sheep carcass not far from Ms McCardle's front gate.

She has never had to notify the council about it, as the council "are usually pretty good about picking things up".

"I am assuming someone has come out from Hastings or Flaxmere and just dumped it on the side of the road. Quite often we get people just emptying out their cars underneath the oak trees that are along that road but this is more like they have bagged up stuff and taken it out specifically to dump it.

"This is more the fact that someone has dumped something and everyone else has decided 'Well this is a good place to add to it' and it is just getting more and more rather than just one load being dumped."

She believed as it was still close to town but rural enough it attracted more people to use it as their dumping spot.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman Rex Graham said: "It is outrageous behaviour which is totally outside our community values."

He believed they needed to find out who is dumping the rubbish and said that can be done by looking through it to see if there is any identifying information.

A Hastings District Council spokesperson said: "Like all councils we do suffer from some illegal dumping, however it is possibly more prevalent along river corridors which are monitored and managed by regional council."

She said the council will look into it and see if there is identifying information within the rubbish.

"Whether we can prosecute/fine them depends on whether it is public land - it may well be that this is road reserve and we will check that tomorrow."

There has not been any noticeable increase in fly tipping on council-owned land, she noted.

"We do rely on people letting us know when this sort of thing happens, so we can get it cleaned up as quickly as possible. They can log illegal dumping via our 24/7 phone number 871 5000."

Hastings District Flaxmere councillor Henare O'Keefe said "unfortunately there will always be an ilk of person who for whatever reason will dump their rubbish where ever & whenever they can get away with it".

"In the meantime other well intentioned people ( rate payers etc) have to bare the brunt of it."

He said it is a problem they have experienced in close proximity to their beloved Marae of Te Aranga.

Earlier this year, the Hawke's Bay Regional Council limited vehicle access at four locations along the Ngaruroro River near Napier and Hastings, due to the cost of removing rubbish and burnt-out vehicles in that area.

Vehicle access along the river edge at Ormond Rd was closed late last year, with permanent gates installed.