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A decision on which vehicles will or will not be banned from Marlborough’s east coast is expected this week, a year after a controversial blanket ban was first issued.
The Marlborough District Council agreed to draft a new statute last December that bans motorists from the mouth of the Awatere River to the mouth of the Ure River in an attempt to protect ecosystems that became more accessible after the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. .
But thousands signed a petition opposing the vehicle ban, fearing an end to quad family traditions, including the family that gifted their beach to the government.
Conservationists, on the other hand, welcomed the plan, saying the vehicles hampered the recovery of the reef shelves and threatened indigenous vegetation and wildlife along the coast.
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A quad bike at Ward Beach, where rocks similar to Moeraki were formed after the Kaikōura earthquake.
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The division among stakeholders – some supporting a blanket ban, some a partial ban and some no ban – prompted the council to seek further comment, pushing back the summer deadline.
To ensure that the draft bylaws were made public as soon as possible, the council wanted to establish a bylaws subcommittee, which would finalize the new rules while staff were on summer vacation.
But first, councilors had to decide which vehicles to ban.
CHLOE RANFORD / LDR
One of the many geckos that call the beaches of the east coast home.
The first option, supported by staff, was to cut off beach access to all vehicles between Redwood Pass and Ward, and introduce a speed limit at Marfells Beach and Ward Beach, where fishermen could still launch their boats. The ordinance would also restrict vehicles from shapeless roads and sand dunes.
A report presented before Thursday’s plenary council meeting said a blanket ban would protect important tangata whenua sites, threatened species and habitats, and other beach users, as well as allow the coastline to recover from the Kaikōura earthquake.
The second and final option would ban cars, but not quads or motorcycles, which could still travel below the high-tide mark.
The staff decided to include this option after several stakeholders said they believed quads and motorcycles had a “lighter footprint” than other vehicles, thus causing less damage to the shoreline.
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The Marlborough District Council is looking to ban vehicles in a portion of the region’s east coast, but has yet to decide which vehicles.
This view was supported by the petition signatories, but not by council staff, who said that the benefits these vehicles brought to the public were “questionable” and “negligible” compared to the damage and disturbances caused by the vehicles.
A partial ban would also be difficult to enforce, according to the report.
Thirteen councilors and the mayor would vote the options.
Once a draft statute was written, it would be made public for at least a month so that people could present their views on it.
A hearing committee would then deliberate on the submissions and make a recommendation to the council, which would decide whether or not to adopt the new ‘East Coast Protection Statute’.
