NCC hears views on Brook Reserve road

The granddaughter of the man who sold land to the city council for Nelson’s Brook Reserve is worried that the public might lose access to it if its legal status is changed.

A panel of three councillors has received submissions on the proposal to reclassify the Brook Reserve.

The council wants to change it from its current status of Local Purpose Reserve for recreation, to Local Purpose Reserve for outdoor leisure, camping, conservation and education. It needs to do this, as the recreation designation made in 2015 could be nonlegal or ultra vires. It also wants to stop the legal road through the reserve.

Most submissions to the hearing yesterday were strongly opposed to redesignating the reserve, stopping the road, or both.

Tamika Simpson, owner of Simpson’s Farm in Brook Valley, said she was concerned that stopping the road would be a barrier to accessing the reserve, which was public land. In the 1950s, her grandfather had sold land to the council for public use in the reserve, and the family’s intention was for it to always be accessible to the public.

‘‘Our understanding has been that it was for the people of Nelson. If that gate is closed, then that property is closed to the community, and that was never our intention,’’ she said.

Simpson said that if access was curtailed, she wanted to buy back the title and keep the land fully accessible to the public.

Brook Valley Community Group chair Christopher SaintJohanser said the council had ‘‘really failed in its responsibility to the people’’ for over 10 years in its dealings with the Brook Reserve. ‘‘The council is attempting to reclassify land from a classification that it doesn’t actually have.’’

Saint-Johanser was referring to the classification of Local Purpose (recreation) Reserve, which it was revealed in August this year was ultra vires – a fact council staff knew in 2016 but which was kept from councillors for two years.

He said the council was continuing its unlawful path. ‘‘You have been poorly advised throughout . . . You have to go to the root of the problem, which was a bad decision made a long time ago.’’

Brook Waimarama Sanctuary Trust general manager Hudson Dodd said it was his understanding that the road stoppage was not intended to limit public access, and he urged the council to ensure that the public could access the reserve.

The panel will bring its recommendations to the full council on November 27.