A proposed council bylaw to close off a popular Wairarapa paper road has triggered a backlash from users who fear it will set a precedent for other wilderness areas.
The paper road, which is an unformed public road, is east of Cape Palliser and passes through Māori land to a Department of Conservation Reserve.
It is a heritage protected area with archaeological sites spanning back to its early Māori occupation around 1000 AD. The owners of the land, Ngāti Hinewaka, say, for years they’ve had to put up with vandalism, including fires which had destroyed native bush.
A big concern was off-road vehicles, which, South Wairarapa District Council chief executive Janice Smith, said often veer onto private land.
“There are segments of the land that are deeply rutted,” she said, “and that means flora and fauna and potentially archaeological remains are being damaged.
The hapū, Ngati Hinewaka, originally wanted the road stopped altogether, she said.
“The team worked through to a proposed bylaw prohibiting vehicles. The hapū then worked forward, with the team, to a bylaw that would restrict vehicle access to the land.
“The hapū then came to us to say they wanted no access for a period of time, two or three years.”
David Barnes from the Outdoor Access Commission is wary of a temporary closure arrangement with a review at the end of three years.
“The can will just be kicked down the road,” he told Q+A.
He agrees that the bylaw to restrict vehicles to protect the environment is the right mechanism, but doesn’t believe the council can legally stop walkers on the paper road.
In Ngawī, out by Cape Palliser, locals who met to discuss the proposed bylaw say they want to work with the hapū to repair the road and possibly put fencing in.
Some blamed out-of-town four-wheel drive owners who treated the historic area like a playground — ripping up the road and land.
One local diver feared the proposed road closure was the thin edge of the wedge. He said he noticed other paper roads closing and that this special one at Cape Palliser belonged to all of New Zealand.
Nature photographer Andy Macdonald agrees. He’s led a social media campaign opposing the South Wairarapa District Council’s bylaw.
He said there was no practical way into the DOC reserve at the end of the paper road, known as the Stone Wall Reserve.
“In the discussion document, the council suggest three ways in, along the shoreline, which you can see could be very dangerous, through a gate at the White Rock end, which is always locked or over the Arorangi hills, which are steep and not really an option.”
The photographer insists that the proposed road closure is not a locally confined issue.
“If Kiwis are locked out of public areas like this,” he said, “it will start happening all across the country, and before we know it, what we value as part of the Kiwi experience is just gone forever, and it won’t come back.”
In the coming week, the South Wairarapa District Council will process the huge number of submissions received on the bylaw.
Submissions close on August 19, followed by hearings and a decision in September.
