New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association Inc.

NZ Four Wheel drive Submission on Waikato CMS.

Hi Tony

Thanks for the follow up.  We’ve had some interesting internal conversations about this.  And there are a few avenues to move in.

1)      From a site perspective the local staff see risks in using 4WD on Waipaheke Track around the steep gradient and drop offs as well as the current use by motorcycles.  Progress here would mean having the risks confirmed and then agreeing if the risks were able to be mitigated or not. Peter Carter based in Thames office is the local staff member to liaise with on this, and would also need to include Shaun Sweet (another one of the Recreation Advisors that has a 4WD focus). 

2)      Then; if the risks could be mitigated.  The Waipaheke Track is currently utilised by motorbikes and this is a successful arrangement.  At present there is less opportunities for motorbikes than 4WD across all public conservation land so we wouldn’t want the bikes to feel like they were losing a space.  However there is potential for NZFWD to work with the dominant club using this area to explore the option of a shared use arrangement.  This would need to take into account the risks identified (as per point 1) for 4WD vehicles on this track.  Any agreement of shared use and risk mitigation would need to be developed between the two groups, be fairly formal and then submitted to us for the final tick.

3)      Apparently a request for 4WD clubs to give DOC their preferred locations/ new locations has been sent out a while back.  We haven’t had all responses back yet, once we get these our team is keen to look at all the requests/ options on a national scale and determine which are the best to go ahead with based on a number of factors (like safety and increasing participation).  So an option is to wait for this feedback to come back to us and then  we would work though the feedback to progress the best options nationwide.  Shaun Sweet would lead this and work with NZFWA and local clubs on options.  I think this is probably the best long term view of approaching options for 4WD but of course will be a longer journey.

So I suppose that gives you more options of where to from here and some of our thoughts, rather than a yes or no to the request.  Peter and Shaun are both aware of NZFWD’s request about the Waipaheke Track now so would be open to more discussion with you.  Or as per option 3 we can take the nationwide option by starting to encouraging clubs to get their feedback in.

Hope that is helpful.

Kind regards

Tinaka