‘Hope’ for halt to beach ban
The organiser of a petition against a proposed quad bike ban in Marlborough has been ‘‘given hope’’ after meeting with a top council boss.
Fisherman Mark Wills met with the region’s deputy mayor, Nadine Taylor, on Thursday to find out how to kill plans to bar motorists from a 45-kilometre stretch of coast, from the Awatere River mouth to the Ure River mouth.
The Marlborough District Council agreed to draft a bylaw in November after conservationists said drivers were damaging the region’s east coast, lifted by the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake.
Wills chaired the East Coast Protection Group, which championed the coast’s preservation, for two years. He departed the group last year as he felt it was ‘‘clear’’ it wanted a vehicle ban.
He said he left the meeting with Taylor ‘‘thinking; ‘Wow, there’s someone in council that’s going to listen to us.’ I just hope there’s more than one honest person.’’
He said Taylor talked him through the bylaw process. A draft bylaw would be taken to the council in February or March, before a month-long consultation period from March or April, where the public could voice their thoughts.
‘‘Unfortunately, the process the [East Coast Protection Group] took has got it to this stage of drafting, but we do know now that if we have a hope of stopping it, where we can now go,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve been given hope.’’
The council’s technical report, which informed the proposed bylaw, said there would be ‘‘long-term consequences’’ if uncontrolled vehicle access continued along the coast. The report, which took 18 months to complete, pulled together scientific data on the east coast from several sources, such as the Department of Conservation (DOC), and Forest and Bird.
It recommended speed limits be imposed at Marfells Beach and Ward Beach, so four-wheel-drives could still launch boats.
About 2000 people had since signed a petition to stop the ban, Wills said. If a motor vehicle ban was approved on parts of Marlborough’s east coast, he would not return to camp at Marfells Beach.
‘‘It will put the DOC camp host out of work, because no one will come here,’’ Wills said.
‘‘A lot of people in New Zealand can’t afford $85 for a crayfish, but they can pop here over the summer and fish enough crayfish for a year.’’
Taylor declined on Friday afternoon to speak about the meeting.
‘‘As a councillor, I meet regularly with private residents and ratepayers, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on an individual meeting.’’
Wills asked those who signed the petition to make a submission on the bylaw when public consultation opened, set down for March or April.