Bream Bay's Graham Ellis has been taking his vehicles onto Northland's Ruakākā Beach to go fishing for 20 years.
That's meant driving a quad bike or ute onto the beach more than 1000 times over that period.
"And we've always respected the beach vehicle use rules," Ellis said.
Ellis wants to continue doing this after Whangārei District Council's (WDC)'s update of its 17‑year‑old Control of Vehicles on Beaches Bylaw covering all the district's beaches.
"I don’t want any changes to vehicle access on our beach," Ellis said.
But he fears that may not be the case.
"I'm concerned vehicles will be totally banned from this beach," Ellis, a Marsden Cove Fishing Club member and club delegate to the New Zealand Sportfishing Council, said.
"Things risk getting more and more shut down. Look at Muriwai [on Auckland’s west coast] now."
Strict rules apply to vehicles on Muriwai Beach, including drivers needing a valid Auckland Council beach-driving permit. The beach is also closed to vehicles during peak summer periods, with access restricted even for permit holders.
Ellis and his wife Maryse live close to the popular beach and have raised their six daughters to love fishing there.
His 13 grandchildren now enjoy it too.
Ellis said torpedo and drone fishing off the beach was part of the quintessential Kiwi way of life. Catching fish to feed his family has always been part of his routine.
"I'm worried the beach may be closed to all vehicles.
"Where else would we go to do that sort of fishing if no vehicles were allowed onto the beach here. Northland's west coast is quite dangerous and it’s quite a long way away."
Ellis said it was crucial people had their say on the WDC bylaw review.
Meanwhile, in contrast, Waipū Cove conservationist and Bream Bay Coastal Care Trust member David Lourie wants vehicles banned from Ruakākā Beach as a result of the bylaw review.
But he said more facilities would be needed to support that — specifically additional parking behind the beach so people could walk on rather than drive.
Lourie said banning vehicles from the part of the beach Whangārei District Council controlled would stop vehicles accessing the dunes behind Ruakākā Beach.
This was particularly the case in its the southern section where dunes were heavily used by recreational 4WDs and suffered vegetation damage
A large chunk of the 13km Ruakākā Beach's dunes fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation and are therefore not part of the WDC review.
Meanwhile North Ruakākā resident and fisherman Eric Woodward said the bylaw definitely needed updating.
Woodward also wants vehicles banned from the full length of Ruakākā Beach — extending the roughly kilometre-long local stretch of the beach where he lives that WDC brought in a total vehicle ban for in a 2016 bylaw amendment.
But he said that if that did not happen, it was important the updated bylaw had more teeth to better police controls on beach vehicle use.
Woodward said this responsibility should not fall on communities "as the last line of defence".
Police Sergeant Nicholas Miller said officers conducted regular patrols across the wider Bream Bay area, including the beach environment, as part of routine work on public safety and road policing.
Police worked with others involved in beach use, including WDC and DOC which had their own bylaw responsibilities, Miller said.
WDC strategic planner bylaws Will McNab said initial community engagement toward the review had attracted a high level of interest for a bylaw update.
The review covers vehicle use on beaches along the Whangārei district’s roughly 200km coastline. But Ruakākā is a particular beach vehicle use hotspot.
McNab said the bylaw aimed to keep people safe, protect public health and reduce nuisance by managing how vehicles were used on beaches across the district.
He said police had in recent years, attended five crashes on Ruakākā’s Uretiti Beach south of Tip Rd, including three serious‑injury crashes and one minor injury.
McNab said WDC had also received complaints about vehicle use on numerous other beaches, including Bland Bay, Matapōuri Bay, Ōakura Bay, Taiharuru/McGregor’s Bay, Whangaumu/Wellington’s Bay, Woolleys Bay and parts of Whangārei Harbour.
WDC is currently in the initial phase of reviewing its bylaw governing vehicle use on beaches — but this only covers sections of Whangārei district's beaches and dunes where it has jurisdiction.
This includes the beach from the high‑tide to low‑tide mark. Bream Bay beaches and dunes under the Department of Conservation’s jurisdiction fall outside the review.
WDC’s initial community‑engagement feedback phase closes on February 15.
McNab said the council would then consider whether its 2009 bylaw was fit for purpose after reviewing community feedback.
He said more than 1400 pieces of feedback from individuals and organisations had been received by February 10.
McNab said the early community feedback would be used to shape a draft bylaw that councillors would decide. It would then go through formal public consultation, likely around July or August.
He said people could make submissions then and ask to speak to these.
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