Beach ban ‘discrimination’

a person, but said quads were a bigger concern as they could cover more area than walkers.

‘‘The environment doesn’t get the chance to establish. It gets disturbed all the time.’’

There was a ‘‘huge potential’’ for dotterels and their eggs to be run over.

‘‘People, when driving at speeds, do not have time to see where birds are and avoid them,’’ Hamill said.

But Wills said motorists built stick fences around banded dotterel bird nests and drove below the nesting area, to ensure their survival.

‘‘Why should those who play by the rules and look after the environment be punished, when it is not them doing the damage?’’ he said.

‘‘It’s the Queen’s Chain. That’s the worst thing that annoys me. They [the council] don’t have the right to put this bylaw down.

‘‘I oppose ratepayers’ money being spent to lock people out of a public beach ... It’s not conservation, it’s discrimination.’’

Wills said most petition signers opposed a total vehicle ban but didn’t mind other enforcement options, such as speed limits.

He was working to form a committee that would look at alternative ways to protect the coast, outside a vehicle ban.

German travellers Evelyne and Saadik Goll said Marlborough should look to Tasman’s Taupata Gravel Reserve for advice on protecting beaches.

Travellers had installed signs in more than 25 languages to warn visitors of birds nesting near the reserve, they said.

‘‘If you made an official sign instead, it would not be the same thing. But maybe they can make a sign for this beach.’’

Anyone wanting to sign the petition could email Wills at agsafetraining@gmail.com.