Outdoor Walking Access Report to the Minister for Rural Affairs

Summary

This report responds to a request from the Government for the Walking Access Consultation Panel (the Panel) to seek a consensus from stakeholders on concerns about walking access to the outdoors and measures that might be taken to deal with the concerns. The Panel consulted widely.

The Panel recognises that there are divergent views on walking access, however it believes that it has established consensus on a way forward. The matters on which the Panel believes it has found consensus are:

  • New Zealanders should have fair and reasonable access on foot to and along the coastline and rivers, around lakes and to public land.
  • The public generally have the right to be on public land.
  • Landholders generally have the right to manage their land and who may enter on to it.
  • The public has rights to public resources.
  • There is a need for leadership, guidance and policy making at a national level in respect of walking access, and this will require the establishment of a new access organisation.
  • There is a need for improved information about public access rights and this will require the provision of appropriate mapping and signposting.
  • Unformed legal roads provide an important network of public access rights, both along water margins and elsewhere.
  • There is a need for measures to enforce the public right of access to unformed legal roads, but these measures should be accompanied by powers to regulate the inappropriate use of these roads.
  • There is scope to use existing access rights that are not in a useful location as a basis for negotiating more practical access.
  • Where fixed water margin access has been affected by erosion it is desirable that it should be reattached to the relevant water margin.
  • There are uncertainties around existing public access along water margins, and these need to be addressed.
  • Where new access over private land is needed, it should be by negotiation and agreement with the landowner, and with appropriate compensation where necessary.
  • The New Zealand Walkways Act 1990 is a valuable existing statutory mechanism for the provision of walking access, and there is merit in transferring the management of this Act to the proposed access organisation.
  • The proposed access organisation (Te Ara o Papatuanuku) should work in harmony and cooperation with existing access initiatives and with local government.
  • There is a need for a widely accepted voluntary code of responsible conduct to protect the environment and the interests of landholders.
  • Landholders’ concerns about liability in respect of walker safety and any fire risk attributable to walkers need to be managed.
  • Rural crime and personal security is a concern to many, and requires on-going attention by the Police and stakeholders together.
  • Biosecurity is an important issue for landholders, and while there are adequate existing regulatory controls, there is scope to recognise biosecurity concerns when negotiating access.
  • While the focus of the proposed access organisation’s work will be on walking access, there is scope in the negotiation of walking access on private land for agreement by landholders to access with vehicles, guns and dogs.

One member of the Panel, Mr Bryce Johnson, believes that the Panel’s recommendations, if adopted, will not be sufficient to achieve the objective of completing the Queen’s Chain and will not deal effectively with the issue of “exclusive capture”. Mr Johnson’s alternative view and recommendations are included as section 21 of this report.

The majority of the Panel does not consider that there is a consensus amongst stakeholders on the measures recommended by Mr Johnson, and, therefore, does not support them.

Some stakeholders raised concerns about recreational access to land with vehicles, especially with four-wheel-drive vehicles. This is outside the scope of walking access, but, given the existing right to use motor vehicles on unformed legal roads, this issue should be considered alongside the recommended measures to deal with the use of unformed legal roads for walking access.

The Panel has recommended a plan of action that would see the forming of an establishment board for an access organisation as soon as possible, and the commencement of work on the mapping of existing access rights under the supervision of the board. The plan of action also recommends that work commence on the legislative measures that would be needed to give effect to some of the Panel’s recommendations.