You asked DOC to allow use of public land to enhance access to a public coastal recreation reserve.

It’s a reasonable request.

But this week the department issued a second emphatic no.

In doing so the department has closed its ears to the 7,400 people who have signed this petition.

And they’re not listening to the people on the street who say it’s a joke that we live in the Bay of Islands and we don’t have access to our beautiful open coastline.

The public interest should be the predominant concern of the Department, especially in this area, where private property owners have locked the public out of the whole of the Purerua Peninsula.

In justifying its decision DOC’s Whangarei based Northland officers throw us some crumbs. They say we have Skudders Beach and Rangitane as our beaches. They mention also Opito Bay and Takou Bay.

People who live here know that Skudders Beach and Rangitane are muddy estuarine sites. Opito Bay is shared with yachts. And Takou Bay is closed to public as access is over private land.
Our community focus is on Taronui because the conservation strip leading to it is Crown owned and gives the public a real chance to access the open coastline.

But DOC holds the aces and won’t help.

Why is the department so rigidly against public wishes?

It says the existing road will need to be realigned and upgraded and they don’t have the resources.

We have offered to find the money.

It says adjacent landowners are against opening the road to the public.

It is not credible to suggest that the nation (represented by DOC) owns a roadway but only this handful of landowners and their tenants can have use of the road for vehicles.

DOC says tangata whenua do not support public vehicle access.

We suggest a compromise option of creating a car park further back from our original submission (reducing the walk from 3.7km to 1.4km) as a means of creating a buffer between vehicles and areas of Maori cultural concern.

DOC raises ‘detrimental impacts’ from increased usage, ‘such as fire, dogs, toileting, littering, illegal camping and depletion of kai moana in the mahinga mataitai area.’

None of these obstacles are insurmountable.

DOC staff could visit the many popular beaches on Auckland’s north shore to see how the Auckland council successfully accommodates the public.

So, in a nutshell, it’s a straightforward process for DOC to support vehicle access. It would simply be a management decision, within the department, as to how to administer the area.

The department’s decision against supporting and engaging in a process for establishing public vehicle access is not consistent with DOC policy and is in breach of its obligations under the Conservation Act 1987 S6 (e) and the Reserves Act 1977 S17 (1) (2a).

DOC is bound by law to identify where the public have the right of access to the coast, or where foreshore reserves, public access ways, formed roads or tracks, should be created to maintain or enhance such access.

The maintenance and enhancement of public access to and along the coast is recognised as a matter of national importance in the Resource Management Act 1991 S6 (d) and by the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 1994.

Northland DOC decision makers ignore all this and have put access to Taronui In its too-hard basket.

It’s DOC’s duty to secure continued and enhanced public access to Taronui in perpetuity.

We are unbending in that.

And we continue to seek a collaborative approach, involving Ngati Rehia, the public, affected landowners and DOC, to achieve options for improved access.

DOC publicly encourages New Zealanders to connect and contribute to conservation. The department’s vision and outcome statement reflects the importance of working in partnership with others:

“It is important that we take a customer-focused approach, working alongside our partners.” - Department of Conservation 2016 Vision, Priorities and Outcomes [2016].

We are the customer.