Rotorua's Mayor is disappointed one of the city's cemeteries was left vandalised at the weekend when a car did donuts on the lawn.
The damage was superficial, but Mayor Steve Chadwick says the act was nonetheless "totally inappropriate and disrespectful".
It was reported to the Rotorua Lakes Council, which manages Kauae Cemetery, and a staff member was sent to assess the area on Monday.
Sport and recreation manager Rob Pitkethley says there was no damage to any headstones or graves; however, there are large skid marks left in the grass.
He says this hasn't happened at the cemetery before, but has been known to have occurred at reserve and parks "from time to time".
The council manages the cemetery for the Kauae Cemetery Trust Board, which is made up of Council and iwi representatives and currently chaired by Ms Chadwick.
Work has only recently been done to open up the front of the cemetery by removing trees from the roadside.
The work was done as part of an upgrade to the area, which also restored the original view of the lake from the burial ground.
"It's particularly disappointing when we've got a beautification and landscaping plan we've worked on with Ngati Whakaue.
"We'll have to look at what we might be able to do about access to open areas at the cemetery to try and prevent this type of thing happening again," Ms Chadwick says.
Locking the cemetery would be a "last resort", Ms Chadwick says, preferring people to have free access to it.
The board would rather look at how they could protect open areas so people can't get cars onto the open spaces.
Newshub.
