People could be made to pay for day trips to Coromandel's Hahei Beach under proposed parking bylaw

People could be made to pay for day trips to Hahei Beach in the Coromandel under a controversial  proposed parking bylaw.

Thames-Coromandel District Council is receiving feedback until Monday on the proposed bylaw change, which would in effect prevent free parking on the town's streets, the Bay of Plenty Times reports.

With 320,000 visitors a year to the town, the council would ban parking in Hahei from October 1 to April 30 each year.

In conjunction with the ban, the council wants to expand a carpark to 500 spaces and charge between $8 and $10 to use the carpark, or a similar rate to park at the beach.

Anyone could have their say on the proposed changes through to Monday, the final day for feedback.

Thames-Coromandel mayor Sandra Goudie told the Bay of Plenty Times the quality of submissions would make the decision for the council.

"The problem of congested streets and car-crammed berms is ongoing in some pockets around the Coromandel where there are high visitor numbers, but not to the extent that is experienced around Hahei,” she said.

"However, parking charges will not be applied to any other part of the district without going through a full public consultation process as it has to be driven by the community."