Offroad-Express

GNTONC wrote:

UBZ wrote:a few trucks , a few spades , wouldn't take much to make that drivable.

Hi Chris, that's true but wouldn't it be much better if the forestry company has to drive in again with their heavy machinery and fix the whole mess... ? after all they did destroy illegaly a public road...

UBZ wrote:but, what is the councils Stance on this ? Has the road been "stopped" or have a valid "exclusion"
has the proper paper work been filled and approved by the council for major works by others, on a public road? if so where are the safety barriers , danger signs etc.
have you guys taken this up with Walking Access NZ?

the councils stance is that they do not care at all. they are aware of the problem up Endean road but they only say that 'a few ruin it for all', talking about stealing and breaking forestry equipment, drugs, illegal hunting, tree molesting and all the other 'fishy' excuses they come up with...

I wrote several letter to the council and all the answers I got back where pre phrased letters randomly put together just to try to shut me up. now they did even stop answering my letters...

yes, Walking Access NZ was here, they took pictures and since then they try to get an appointment with the council for a meeting but everytime so far the council cancelled the meeting in the last minute. also a nice way to try to shut people up and to brush problems under the carpet...

Have you tried going to the media?

Start with a few of the local rags and see if they want to run a story on the situation.

Tabloids love this sort of thing, "Big evil logging corp digs death trap in public road"

See if you can get any other possible users of the road behind you, mountain bikers, horsey people etc. It's gotta be more than just a couple fellas in 4x4s, then the papers will have a story and the public will care.

Can the Police be notified for setting a man trap or willfull vandalism,this sort of thing can't be allowed to go unchallenged.What can be done,what are some options.

Since the holes are so dramatic and patently unsafe, it should be easy to get local media attention to make it very public. It might even be that one of the national TV channels would pick it up. A start point would be to send media the link to Steve's little website.
While I know it is four wheelers chasing this up, it would be worthwhile being able to have any news people talk with other affected recreation users too. ( there are still many people who class four wheeling in the same category as bank robbers)

Doing a little research came up with this quote from a publication of the Walking Access Commission

Does occupation equal ownership?
No. While many unformed legal roads that intersect farmland may have been occupied for many years, this does not give the occupier rights of ownership. This is clearly stated in s 172(2) of the Land Act 1948. While some adjoining landholders may treat unformed legal roads as though they own them, they have no greater right to use of the road than any member of the public. Moreover, they are not entitled to use the road in any way that obstructs the public right of free passage.

It comes back to the robust legal principle that once a road is created it remains a road unless it is legally stopped. Even if the land parcels of road have been mistakenly included in a certificate of title for a parcel of private land, the law says the roads still exist even if they are not shown or referred to in the title document.

The publication is 'Guidelines for management of unformed legal roads' and can be downloaded from
www.walkingaccess.govt.nz/page/6/Publications.html

I know this is a little off topic but is there anywhere that shows these unformed roads? preferably greater auckland area but North Island even would be handy... can you find it on the gis viewer? (I couldn't but I'm a bit slow...)

Ok, back OT.

Google Walking Access Mapping Systems

Just been flicking around looking at places to go when I'm next up that way and was wondering if there are any updates on Endean Road? Do they still dig it out?

it's open, go with a couple of buddies! this was part of our trip last month

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNnuBdFL ... YCYkt2l96A

It's a good drive, got a bit of everything, rocks mud and big holes! If you don't want to go past the big hole it's still 2-3 kms of good track