Anger after firm closes public road

A SOUTHLAND resident is angry that Real Journeys thought it could cut off access to a public road at Walter Peak — something the company was not permitted to do and has now apologised for.

For the past 30 years Drew Riordan, of Waikaia, has spent New Year camping at Mavora and every year during that time had travelled by road to Walter Peak for a barbecue on the lakefront.

Early this month, Mr Riordan and some friends set up at the lake, but were approached by a staff member informing them it was ‘‘private property’’ and they were not permitted to be there.

‘‘We were sitting there and [someone] came and told us to leave and we said ‘we don’t have to, it’s a public road’ and he said ‘no it isn’t, the road’s shut’ and I said ‘like hell it is . . .’

‘‘He stormed off . . . and then we had a beer and thought ‘bugger them, we don’t want to cause any trouble’ and then we thought we better ring them and see if they’ve got [permission], because you can’t do that.’’

However, the staff member Mr Riordan spoke to could not answer his questions.

On two separate trips soon after, a gate across the road, which he believed had been there for many years, had been closed and latched with a sign stating ‘‘no vehicle access’’. He described it as nonsense. ‘‘It would be like me closing the road to Heriot — you’d get shot.

‘‘You can’t just shut a public road [and] you can’t tell me Real Journeys has bought the road.’’

Mr Riordan said there was also Queen’s Chain land — publicly owned strips of land normally 20m wide next to the foreshore, rivers or lakes — around the Lake Wakatipu, which had been set aside for access.

When he put that to the Real Journey’s staff member during the first visit, he was told it was ‘‘only 8m here’’.

‘‘There’s no way [Land Information New Zealand] has changed that,’’ he said.

Real Journeys Queenstown operations manager Andrew Husheer accepted the gates should not have been closed, but said it was in response to safety concerns.

The company constructed a public car park in November to encourage drivers to park away from a construction area and lakefront for safety.

It also built a public pedestrian walkway from the car park which linked to another path providing access to the lakefront, about 300m away.

‘‘The busy holiday season period saw a significant number of additional recreational drivers utilise the back road to Walter Peak and head straight to the lake, sometimes at high speed, ignoring the car park signs at a time when a high number of visitors are heading from the lake up to the Walter Peak Farm,’’ Mr Husheer said.

‘‘This caused increasing safety concerns and the week before Christmas the decision was made to place a temporary stock gate across the road so that vehicles turned into the car park.’’

While a photograph taken by Mr Riordan shows the gate shut and latched, Mr Husheer said it was not locked.

Because the company had stock on the farm ‘‘this was not considered an issue’’.

Mr Husheer said travellers were ‘‘not stopped from accessing the lakefront by foot, bicycle, or those with mobility difficulties, by car’’.

‘‘After having the issue brought to our attention, we accept that the gates should not have been closed or anyone stopped from accessing the lakefront by vehicle.

‘‘This was done by staff out of a genuine concern for public safety.

‘‘The gate has now been opened.

‘‘We apologise to anyone who was prevented from driving right down to the lakefront over the peak holiday period.’’

Mr Husheer requested in future, where possible, people use the public car park and walk to the lake.