FURIOUS caravanners and campers have blasted a "heartless" Queensland council for ruining their Christmas and New Year holidays.

The new sign at the approach to Norval Park

Many had to abandon their annual yuletide festivities among the sand dunes after Burnett Shire Council banned camping at the popular beachside Norval Park, north of Bundaberg ... just weeks before Christmas.

Holidaymakers who ignored the new ruling faced fines of up to $1500.

Peter Harper and his family were stunned when they arrived in their Jayco Expanda caravan only to be confronted by a newly-erected sign informing visitors that overnight camping was now illegal.

"We've driven all the way from Goondiwindi. How heartless can they be," he said when approached by Caravanning News.

"We've been coming here for 10 years. It's just paradise and the kids cried when I told them we couldn't stay. Our Christmas has been ruined by heartless bureaucrats sitting in their ivory towers."

Another traveller only heard the bad news when he stopped at the village shop in nearby Yandaran for order a newspaper for his proposed six-week camping holiday.

"Where the bloody hell are we going to find a camping spot now?" he complained. "All the local caravan parks are booked solid for Christmas. Surely they could have waited until after the New Year before imposing the ban. It stinks."

But Burnett Shire Council director of environment and community Michael Egan was unrepentant, saying the council was forced to take action after people abused the area, dumped rubbish and damaged sand dunes.

"It is just not acceptable for people to camp for months on end. We will be working with police where necessary to enforce the regulations," he warned.

Locals told Caravanning News that an estimated 250 tents, motorhomes and caravans were pitched at Norval Park last Christmas and New Year, creating ill feeling between some visitors.

At one stage, police were forced to use a helicopter to reach the isolated area when a running battle erupted between about 50 campers armed with knives and poles after a dispute over quad bikes and trail bikes speeding over dunes and near campsites.

Within days of the new sign announcing the ban on camping being erected, it had been pushed over by vandals.

Locals said there had been an increased police presence at the beach since the camping ban was imposed.

Paradise: Norval Park beach

The new rule also covers Coonarr, Palm Beach, Bucca and Smiths Crossing ... all popular free camping areas, particularly with southerners migrating north for the winter sunshine.

In a statement, the council said: "Apart from developments approved under the council's planning scheme and council owned and privately owned commercial caravan parks in the shire, and the roadside rest area at Sharon Nature Park, there are no other locations designated as camping grounds within the shire and as such any camping is unlawful, whether in cars, tents, caravans, camper trailers, motorhomes or in the open."

Council workmen also sealed off Norval Park's 4WD tracks with huge rocks, angering off-road enthusiasts.

Bundaberg 4WD Club secretary Brad Praed told Caravanning News: "I have spoken to the council and the closures are not just at peak times but for as long as the council wish, until they have decided on a management plan for the areas."

He agreed the area had never been an official camp site, although people had free camped there "for years".

"There is a number of concerned groups looking into the matter and a petition has been circulated," he said.

Caravanning News understands the shire council will reopen Norval Park in June for limited camping but is considering charging overnight fees.

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