An all-year-round ban on vehicle access to a popular Hawke’s Bay beach is being considered by the Hastings District Council following incidents of dangerous driving.
Locals say the situation has become a safety and environmental risk.
Waimārama Beach is around 35km south-east of Hastings and a popular summertime spot for visitors.
Vehicles were permitted on sections of the beach except for a seasonal ban from late October through to April, between the hours of 8am and 8pm, but the council planned to open feedback from the wider community on a proposed 24-7 all-year-round ban.
Tiakitai Hart said haukāinga welcomed the new proposal and the extension of the ban, but the problem lay with enforcing it.
"It's all very well for the kaunihera to put out these rules and regulations but they don't come out, they don't supervise or they're not there to man it. So it's up to the locals, and we get very passionate about things that happen on our beach, especially when it concerns our tamariki and our kaumātua — whānau katoa.”
She said local Māori formed a whānau group to caution visitors to slow down and consider the safety of kids and the elderly.
"Whenever we could, we would try our best to warn people about kia tūpato, be careful, we've got our kuia, tamariki, walking along the beach and it's the speed that we're worried about."
Sand dunes wāhi tapu
There was also an environmental consideration with sand dunes "which are protected under the heritage reservation" and wāhi tapu, said Hart.
Last year, some residents placed rocks on the road to restrict vehicle access, but she said motorcyclists would still be able to drive between them and "they're the very ones that we really don't want to be accessing because they basically seem to be the ones kicking up all the sand and whatnot".
Resident Paul Gibbs agreed with Hart in regard to the lack of policing, saying they didn’t need more laws “because who's going to police them?” But he was against an all-year-round ban that he claimed would deny the rights of locals.
“We fish off the beach; we have recreation down there; there's heaps of families who picnic down the beach in the summertime. It's denying access. If they can't drive [or] put a vehicle along there, it's denying their basic rights, I reckon.”
Two fishermen who said they regularly visited in the summertime said they didn’t see a problem, "as long as people take care of the space".
“As long as people aren't down here on their motorbikes doing skids, just riding along and enjoying the space, yeah, should be fine.”
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the safety and the concerns of “all of our users” is important when considering the ban, so the wider community would be able to submit feedback.
"It's a beach that is used by both our mana whenua, our locals, and our wider district of people enjoying the beach, and it's all about our safety and our safety concerns of all users of the beach."
When asked how the council would expect to enforce the by-law, she said: "Police have made a commitment that they will be there every year at Christmas time and the busy times of the year, on Labour Weekends and times like that.
"But of course, they can't be there all year round, 365 days a year to enforce a by-law, so we need to rely on community just making sure that we've got a ban that is going to suit all users of the beach and at the moment that is the proposal we're taking forward."
Glossary
haukāinga – local Māori
kaunihera – council
tamariki – children
kaumātua – elder, elderly
whānau – family
katoa – all
kia tūpato – be careful
kuia – elderly female(s), grandmother
wāhi tapu – sacred place/site
mana whenua – local Māori authority
SHARE ME