Car club may face greater scrutiny

A Nelson Car Club-run event in mid-July used a longer stretch of road than its permit allowed, a move that is likely to drive increased monitoring.

Tasman District Council transportation manager Jamie McPherson told an engineering services committee meeting that the club obtained an approved road closure permit for a section of Tadmor-Glenhope Rd to run the July 14 event. However, an additional 4km of road was used.

It was unusual, because the club had a good history of running events without incident, McPherson said.

The council investigated and had met with the club, he said. ‘‘They’ve put it largely down to miscommunication within their organising team.’’

The main organiser had believed the area was included in the road closure permit, McPherson said.

‘‘Even in that 4km section that wasn’t part of the permit, they did the usual letter drop, they put in place all the normal safety mitigation measures when they run events. So I think that went some way to mitigate public safety.’’

The key issue for the council was whether people were put at risk, he said. ‘‘I think what we’ve ascertained is, the level of risk was lower than it could have been.’’

Additional monitoring was now likely, he said. ‘‘What we’re proposing is to put the car club on probation, if you like, so for future applications for similar events, what we’ve proposed is to charge them for additional monitoring.’’

McPherson said the extra monitoring could involve ‘‘several hours’ work’’ by a contractor. ‘‘I guess a handful of hours, so several hundred dollars.’’

Some councillors, such as Cr Peter Canton, suggested that in light of the club’s good track record, a ‘‘slap on the wrist’’ might be enough.

A club member said it was putting in place measures to ensure ‘‘it doesn’t happen again’’.