A WA council has doubled fines and will look at locking people out of popular visitor hotspots at night, as it struggles to crack down on illegal camping.

Residents in the Margaret River region have complained about people camping illegally in car parks, beaches and bushland, and leaving public areas littered with human waste and rubbish .

The issue gets worse every summer as an influx of visitors flock to the popular tourist destination, 270 kilometres south of Perth.

Ahead of the peak period, the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River has increased fines for illegal camping from $100 to $200 and erected 'no free camping' signs.

It is part of a wider crackdown on the issue, with the council considering gates in the bushland near Gracetown or Barrett Street Weir to keep people out at nigh

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