Nth. Canterbury Waipara Gorge Access Update

Swaney · Post by **Swaney** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:05 pm

Nicely put and good work on the result.

I always thought people couldnt do you for trespassing unless there was well placed signs up saying "private property" - much like car parks and tow away areas?

BrentC · Post by **BrentC** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:53 pm

Swaney wrote:Nicely put and good work on the result.

I always thought people couldnt do you for trespassing unless there was well placed signs up saying "private property" - much like car parks and tow away areas?

You can only get moved on in the first instance - however if you were issued with a Trespass notice when being moved on and you came back again - you would be then be in breach of the Trespass notice and subject the chance of arrest. In this case - it is clearly public land that some land owners believe they have some claim on - unfortunately for them they are wrong

rangimotors · Post by **rangimotors** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:07 pm

Nice work there kevin, you did well not to grab your spade and take out a little frustration, hopefully now they realise that many of us are responsible guys who follow the rules/laws keep up the good work

Swaney · Post by **Swaney** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:58 pm

hey since its all been thru the system and verified that we are allowed there.........

haha yea u know where im going with this....

an 4x4 expedition out via the river bed. Im sure they would love that.

After all they make it sound so appealing

[quote]
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access4WD · Post by **access4WD** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:42 am

Thanks for your post Leithfield.
The Waipara remains an issue.
What really concerns me and Combined is that the neighboring land owners have had a secret meeting and made a submission to the Huruinui Council for them to put through a by law covering the Waipara.
Without going into all the details here, we have a copy of their submission and will make representations to the Council as and when we need to.
The major concern that we have is that this action by landowners is a deliberate vigilante attack on the rights of all of the public of New Zealand and it is disappointing that they would stoop that low, when they know that all river users have a stake in this asset and all river users are willing to progress towards a reasonable form of use, but in an open forum, not one that is threatened by landowners trying to take measures against the overall publics good will.
Suffice to say people we will be doing more on this and I cannot at this stage elaborate any more.
However if you are a rate payer in Huruinui or know any ratepayers you need to take actions, you need to make sure that your rates are not being used to support vigilante actions by some landowners, Get the locals involved.
Remind them (Councilors , and elections are coming up!!) that responsible 4WD people recognize that there have been issues, these issues are not new, (in fact they go back many decades as we have had issues with river neighbours not wanting to share the river asset) and we want to work towards protection of this public asset we want to see everyone have a fair share of this asset. We do not want to be shafted by anyone who takes the law into their own hands let alone set up bylaws to look after only a few and not all.
Many thanks
Paul

Leithfield · Post by **Leithfield** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:15 am

Interesting post Paul, rendered all the more so by the daylight between those comments and your previous position that the neighbouring landowners are simply misunderstood benevolent defacto caretakers. :wink:

tallsam66 · Post by **tallsam66** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:56 pm

MMM very interesting
I think you need to post the info you have Paul so we can see what is going...i cant see a reason why this info shouldnt be posted..too much behind the scenes stuff going on here.

Leithfield · Post by **Leithfield** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:05 am

Subsequent to formal request made under the Official Information Act 1982 & the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, I took delivery of an interesting package today - copy of the Waipara River Protection Group submission to the Hurunui District Council, and the report to Council by Manager Environmental Services on the 27th September 2007.

In respect of the fact that these documents contain sensitive information, I will not table them in public forum; however, I would advocate that all members of Off Road Express, the Canterbury 4WD community, and the New Zealand Paper Road Society exercise a legal right and request release from the Hurunui District Council (HDC).

I urge that you are polite of the HDC, and there is ability to table your request thus:

email framework:
To: mayor@hurunui.govt.nz
c.c: mburton@ministers.govt.nz (Minister of Local Government)

Your Name:
Address:

Dear Sir,

Request for release under the Official Information Act 1982 & the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987

Under provision of the above Acts, I am writing to request that the Hurunui District Council release to myself all records in respect of the submission made by the Waipara River Protection Group and subsequent Council proceedings.

Yours faithfully,
(name)

Kevin Dougherty
Public Relations Officer
Southern Region
O.R.E. National 4x4 Assoc. Inc.

kiwipete · Post by **kiwipete** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:01 pm

It was also interesting to hear at another 4x4 meeting that it was suggested that any party(ies) travelling in said area that come across a farmer/farmers suggesting you are tresspassing, that you ask them nicley to produce to you a tresspass notice that is also showing the legal boundries.
Me thinks they do not want to obtain a legal survey of their boundries at all.

wjw · Post by **wjw** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:44 pm

Done...

Thank you for your e-mail to Hon Mark Burton. Your e-mail has been passed to Mr Burton for his consideration.

tallsam66 · Post by **tallsam66** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 2:23 pm

Ive just requested the infomation....am looking forward to seeing what has been asked for.
When i get mine ill photocopy some & have them available if other CHCH people want to read it.

spankmeister · Post by **spankmeister** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:58 pm

Ive requested also. Will be interesting to have a read.

tallsam66 · Post by **tallsam66** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:21 pm

Does anyone know how long its likely to be till we receive the info?

Leithfield · Post by **Leithfield** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:40 pm

http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/other/p ... o_act.html
"How long will it take?
Your request must be answered within 20 working days. The time limit for answering requests can be extended in some cases but if this happens you must be told of the extension and the reasons for it. If you need the information urgently you can ask for the request to be treated as urgent but you must explain why."

worzel · Post by **worzel** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:14 pm

Kev

Have you seen the northern outlook this w/e and are they allowed to publish pics in their paper off our web site without permision

KEV

hosehustler · Post by **hosehustler** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 1:38 pm

Can someone post the article for us over here on the other side of the Waimak....

worzel · Post by **worzel** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:16 pm

Trying to upload it now

PR · Post by PR » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:41 pm

worzel · Post by **worzel** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 2:50 pm

PR wrote:Any chance of blowing it up or emailing it to me so I can try

sent e mail
kev

PR · Post by PR » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:06 pm

PR · Post by PR » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:11 pm

worzel · Post by **worzel** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:19 pm

Good on ya PR

Kev

Jezza · Post by **Jezza** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:56 pm

worzel wrote:Kev
are they allowed to publish pics in their paper off our web site without permision

KEV

Are they from here? if so, the photograph belongs to the person who took it (as far as I know)

Steve_t647 · Post by **Steve_t647** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:26 pm

"As a result the river is effectivley ruined for other users- fishermen, walkers, swimmers and others - the impact on wildlife is considerable."

Walkers and fishermen stay in areas of bird nesting longer than vehicles so chase birds off nests eggs longer, this is proven. It would be nice to find out how 4wd access is affecting wildlife? fish spawn further upstream.

I understand irrigation, sewerage, chemical spray's, farm runoff, farm animals in the stream and fertilizer being washed into the river does have a larger effect looking for the DOC research I had on this. Perhaps we do need to arrange permission for a trip from the council so I can go back to this area and get some photo's to remember it by. I wonder what would happen if noise poloution caused the helicopters to stay grounded during frost, look at the cost to the enviroment of running a helicopter for a night for noise and poloution and that effect on wildlife.

Steve_t647 · Post by **Steve_t647** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:32 pm

I don't recognise this as the gorge or the river mouth is the photo in the Waipra at all, it has been a long time since I have been there as we have been asked to stay away.

hosehustler · Post by **hosehustler** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:39 pm

I wonder if it will be closed for all vehicles......fair enough if it's the only way to stop the damage, but farmers are *at times*

hosehustler wrote: not always

as Steve has so rightly pointed out, the hardest offenders on the local environments

worzel · Post by **worzel** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:32 pm

Hi Jezza

yes Mike took them last year on the ORE training Day and it is no where near the gorge or mouth

Photo is either out of Mikes or my photo album

So is the paper breaking the law by publishing the photo as they did not have permision to use it

Kev

wjw · Post by **wjw** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:10 pm

worzel wrote:So is the paper breaking the law by publishing the photo as they did not have permision to use it

Yes, Mike would need to contact them.

fweddy · Post by **fweddy** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:06 pm

If photo is confirmed as being from a non 'delicate' area of the river bed and is from one of our albums and is from a training day I think we have a lot to say.

- Without out confirming it, just by looking at the photos its not an obvious ecological hazard. The vehicle is climbing a freshly eroded area which the water is interfering with any way. It appears to be a 'high turnover' changing part of the stream bed.

- The photo is used without permission.

- The photo is taken on a training day when drivers are being taught the very opposite of what they are suggesting, they are being taught how to be responsible users of 4x4s

- The whole river issues are taken out of context

- It is not balanced reporting as the media is meant to give (unless its an opinion column or if they are only quoting people)

If a combined effort is made to make a balance to the article available, I'm happy to approach the Outlook at the local office and have a chat to them. I have some experience with them (good and bad) as well as media experience and get frequent practice dealing with choosing wording and issues. I'm no expert but am willing to put a balance out there if it is even deemed necessary. There is more than one paper in the areas too...

Leithfield · Post by **Leithfield** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:12 pm

A media campaign is being conducted here folks, and I would suggest that the scanned copies of editorial articles are removed from this website as the laws of copyright apply equally.
http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/Page____7290.aspx

If however anyone would like to view the articles ('Drive to Curb river access' Outlook News 06/10/07 & 'Pictures of 4wd Vehicles in Waipara River Prompts Action' The Hurunui News 06/10/07), I am more than happy to make the hardcopy available for your attention.

Kevin Dougherty
Public Relations Officer
Southern Region
ORE National 4x4 Assoc Inc.