The Regional Council is hoping to have Papamoa Hills Park re-opened later this month.

Logging, which has seen the Poplar Lane access to the Papamoa Hills Park closed since last October, was completed last week, says the council's land management officer Courtney Bell.

Contractors are now cleaning up the site and re-building the main access track from Poplar Lane.

The work is weather dependent, but the regional council is still hoping to be able to re-open the park later this month. An exact date will be announced when the track re-instatement is finished, says Courtney.

Access to the Papamoa Hills Park from Poplar Lane has remained closed all summer because there were more trees on the land than was originally calculated. It was originally expected to re-open mid-January

Fulton Hogan has advised Bay of Plenty Regional Council that the timeframe for completion of their logging operation has been extended due to harvest quantities exceeding the pre harvest calculations.

'The main access track will be re-instated and a re-opening date set as soon as we regain access to the car park and main track area, which is on land leased from Fulton Hogan,” says Kaituna catchments manager Pim de Monchy.

'This delay is disappointing but it means the logging operation can still be completed during summer when there's least risk of sediment run-off into waterways. It also avoids the need for additional closures in future.”