Cars could once again be able to drive up to a popular Canterbury picnic spot and lookout - at least for now.

Bollards will be removed from the upper Hakatere reserve on a trial basis in a compromise everyone “can live with”.

Hakatere Huts is a coastal settlement at the Ashburton/Hakatere River mouth, which splits into two parts - upper and lower.

Locals were shocked when wooden bollards were installed in February 2023 to block vehicle access and the upper camping area was closed.

A working group - made up of three Ashburton councillors and three Hakatere Huts residents - reached an agreement last week to recommend the bollards be removed on a trial basis. The camping ban would remain.

Working group chairperson Russell Ellis said their recommendations would go to council, which would make a final decision on August 20.

“We reached a compromise that we think the Hakatere community and council can live with.

“We all agreed the bollards, that currently stop vehicles driving onto the upper picnic area, should be removed on a trial basis."

Ellis said while not everyone agreed that camping should be prohibited in the upper picnic reserve, there was a majority support for it to be banned.

Camping is available at Lower Hakatere.

One of the community representatives, Gary Clancy, said the recommendation was a step in the right direction.

“It’s not the preferred option, but we are someway to getting got one of the two things we had asked for,” he said.

It was the first meeting of the working group since a kerfuffle over the council releasing a working group decision in June, which hadn't actually been agreed on.

Council chief executive Hamish Riach issued an apology at the time, accepting a report to the council “contained a misstatement”,  that the decision will be revoked, and the working group meet again.

Council representatives set to visit the reserve this week to mark which bollards are proposed to be removed.

If the working group’s recommendation is adopted by the council, the upper reserve would be monitored over the summer for illegal camping and the situation reviewed.

Signs will be erected to help guide picnickers and campers to the Lower Hakatere camping area where the council plans to build new toilets this year.

By Jonathan Leask