Paper roads should be treated like SH1

Recreational groups want greater public awareness of the legality of paper roads, saying they should be treated the same way as State Highway 1.

Federated Mountain Clubs has launched the Same As State Highway 1 campaign, as it is worried not enough landowners and recreationalists know paper roads, which often go across private property, have legal public access.

An unformed legal road, or ‘‘paper road’’ is a parcel of land legally designated as a road which has not been formed. Formed means physically constructed and includes gravelling, metalling, sealing or permanently surfacing the road.

The organisation has more than 22,000 members and president Jan Finlayson, of Geraldine, said the roads formed ‘‘a huge part of our backyard’’..

She said if someone says that a legal road ‘goes through a paddock’, they really mean that the road runs between two separate land parcels.

‘‘The landowner doesn’t own the road, and has no more right to prevent use of the road than someone owning buildings on opposite sides of Queen St could prevent someone walking down it,’’ she said.

Finlayson said there were more than 56,000km of unformed legal roads throughout the country.

Popular paper roads in South Canterbury include one that circles around Lake Alexandrina, which has been used for years by people to walk around the lake, and at Tuhawaiki Point, near Timaru.

‘‘The thing about these roads is that they connect people to parts of New Zealand that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access,’’ she said. ‘‘New Zealand has been very lucky that previous generations have been very forward-looking in creating these roads.’’

Finlayson said there had been issues with local authorities in the past over the management of paper roads, and the Government needed to empower the Walking Access Commission to ensure such roads have their legal status confirmed.

‘‘The Walking Access Commission’s mandate is to ensure public access is properly allowed. These are very much roads, and need to be respected as such,’’ she said.

Federated Farmers general manager for policy Gavin Forrest said hikers, walkers and others have rights of access to unformed legal roads. However, he also noted that ‘‘pragmatism needs to be applied’’ as ‘‘access along the legal road is not always practicable or even possible

– many were drawn up by a person behind a desk in the UK who had no idea of what the typography was’’.

‘‘Members of the public are much more likely to gain access if they develop a good relationship with the landowners or are part of a respected or recognised group (i.e. a tramping club) that has a relationship with the landowner,’’ Forrest said. Walking Access Commission chief executive Ric Cullinane said it was important for the public to lobby councils to ensure paper roads remained accessible.

‘‘They often provide access as a means to an end, whether it’s access to conservation land or a beach,’’ Cullinane said.

‘‘These are very much roads, and need to be respected as such.’’ Jan Finlayson (left) President Federated Mountain Clubs