Media release
Phone: 09 438 4639 Fax: 09 438 0012 www.nrc.govt.nz

Number of pages: 02
Date: 03 October, 2007

Bylaws Tipped To Address Beach Driving Concerns

New bylaws could be developed to address ongoing public concerns about risky and environmentally harmful driving on Northland’s beaches.

The Northland Regional Council (NRC) says a relatively small, hard-core of motorists is behind irresponsible and dangerous behaviour that has become a serious regional issue, particularly at weekends and during holiday periods.

Face-to-face surveys with 265 beach users (143 of them vehicle drivers) at Northland beaches over summer this year showed speeding and dangerous driving were users’ biggest concerns, followed by environmental effects.

However, Regional Council staff say tackling these issues is far from simple as current rules governing vehicles on beaches involve multiple agencies and complex legislative requirements and as a result are “messy and largely ineffective”.

Bruce Howse, the Regional Council’s Coastal Monitoring Team Leader, says development of new bylaws appears to offer the most practical and effective solution and importantly, would have little or no impact on those who responsibly use four-wheel drives, motorbikes and other vehicles to reach favourite fishing and picnicking spots.

The idea of exploring the bylaws idea further was supported “overwhelmingly” at a recent Whangarei workshop attended by police, Department of Conservation, Northland’s three District Councils and the NRC.

Mr Howse says after backing from the NRC’s Regional Land Transport Committee, NRC staff have begun investigating the use of bylaws which would give certainty to the type of vehicle use and operation permitted on beaches.

“Once this investigation has been completed, the results will be provided to the relevant agencies for discussion and consultation and then the matter will be reported back early next year to the Regional Land Transport Committee for consideration.“

In the meantime, the various agencies plan to once again take to the region’s beaches over summer to try to raise awareness of appropriate vehicle use.

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Mr Howse says while the summer education campaign is useful, by itself it’s not an effective management tool “due to the lack of regulatory teeth to back up staff when dealing with instances of seriously unsafe or environmentally damaging vehicle use”.

“Furthermore, the campaign can only be run over a few days of the year, when in fact the issues occur over a significant part of the calendar year.”

Mr Howse says under the current regime dealing with vehicles on beaches, police are responsible for dealing with dangerous drivers, those under the influence of drink/drugs or driving unwarranted/unregistered vehicles.

The Department of Conservation becomes involved when vehicles are endangering marine life, disturbing birds or destroying archaeological sites.

Northland Regional Council also has some responsibilities relating to unsafe drivers as well as vehicles destroying vegetation or damaging sand dunes.

District Councils are responsible for the management and use of vehicle access routes to beaches within their respective Districts and on their reserves. District Councils can also become involved if rubbish is dumped by motorists or there are complaints about noise.

ENDS

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