Regulations may already exist to exercise control

The Far North District Council has made an ongoing commitment to work with other Northland local authorities, the Department of Conservation and the NZ Police to find practical solutions to resolve problems associated with vehicles on beaches.


But the council believes inter-agency control mechanisms are already available without the need to enter into long, involved and costly changes in bylaws and processes.


"I don't see jurisdictional changes as being necessary and I certainly have yet to be convinced that imposing speed limits on beaches will bring the result the community wants," Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said today.


"The behavior of those causing problems on beaches is all about stupidity rather than a lack of enforcement tools. It's about people acting in a silly way. I don't want to see a whole lot of new rules and regulations imposed on sensible people, just to deal with a few stupid New Zealanders," he said.


Mayor Brown said he certainly did not want ratepayers to be meeting the cost of jurisdictional changes if alternate regulatory tools already existed.


He was commenting on a Northland Regional Council (NRC) proposal to have the territorial boundaries in the Far North changed from mean high water springs to mean low water springs to pave the way for the introduction of speed restrictions on beaches.


However a legal interpretation sought by the council has indicated the NRC could impose speed restrictions on beaches under the Land Transport Act, without the need for boundary changes and an exchange of bylaw powers.


Because control of land below high water was already vested in the NRC, the council was already a "road controlling authority" in terms of the Transport Act and had the statutory power to impose beach speed restrictions. The FNDC has asked Land Transport NZ to confirm its interpretation of the legislation.


In the meantime the council intends to continue to pursue practical ways to address the activities of vehicles on beaches, in consultation with the inter-agency working party already established.