New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association Inc.

There was sympathy among councillors for landowners who want to lock gates to unfenced Council roads crossing their properties, but the law is the law, a meeting of the Gisborne District Council's operations committee decided.

Council staff were looking for some direction on how to enforce commonly-flouted laws, which require public roads to be marked and left open.

The 1955 Gates and Cattle Stops Order,and the Local Government Act of 1974, stipulate this, but are commonly ignored around the Tairawhiti district. "Are you sure it's not an issue with Maori roads?" Atereta Poananga asked. But it was not. Gates on unfenced public roads were often locked because of others getting stuck and needing help, problems with stock theft and fire risks to forests. the meeting was told. The Council had received two letters of complaint about locked gates.

The reccomendation that council consult with land ownersand get them to unlock the gates was accepted. the problem was a perennial one, said councillor Bill Burdett. "There are pig hunters and fishermen who use those roads... at the end of the day the council has an obligation to ensure roads maintained by the council are open for the public to use. "If this is not addressed, there will be gates going up everywhere over a period of time. I'm surprised there have only been five notified, because I know of many more". Mr Burdett said.

"This is quite a change in policy to implement , given that you have had only two letters" said Pat Seymour.

The roads brought to the attentionof councillors were Kokomuka Road in Te Araroa, Awanui Road in Waiomatatini and the paper road off Pa Road at Whangara. One of the people who complained about locking of gates on public roads is Gisborne tramper Chris Sharp. The locked roads he brought to the council's attention all lead to public land. there are many more that do not that are also locked, he said. "I'm only interested in the roads that I can step off on to conservation land or the coast... there are dozens more that are locked," he said.

"Kokomuka Road for example is one of the few vehicle accesses to the Raukumaras. It was locked by a forestry company, but has been unlocked now". he said He understood why landowners wanted to restrict public access but said it was important that access was safeguarded. "I sympathise with them, but it's illegal. My neighbours and I would love to lock our road. We would have no logging trucks thundering past at 4 am, we'd have no four wheelers stolen, no houses burgled if we could put a lock on a gate to keep people out... but it's a fact of life."

It was decided to tell landowners who were locking the gates in question to remove the locks and mark the roads as public, in accordance with the requirements of the law.

by Martin Gibson
Gisborne Herald