A proposal for an off-road section of cycleway from Upokongaro to Wanganui is upsetting some landowners but the chair of its governance group says issues can be resolved.
The new section will be part of the Mountains to Sea/Nga Ara Tuhono Cycleway that starts on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu and ends at Wanganui's North Mole. Wanganui Mayor Annette Main is the chairwoman of its governance group.
Government's Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund has given Wanganui District Council $130,000 to begin Stage 1 of the new section. The council is to match that funding.
Ms Main said Stage 1 would probably be the first 2.4km downriver from Upokongaro - on public land beside the Whanganui River.
It's the next stage downriver where Kerry Buchanan could lose some of his riverside paddocks. He's seen a plan and said having the cycleway that close to the river was dumb because it would be eroded. It would also interfere with his farm operation. Two other owners of the riverside paddocks were also unhappy about it, he said. The planned route also runs between the river and about 15 houses in Riverbank Rd, on a 20m strip of unused road reserve that's also subject to erosion. Residents there are worried about flooding, losing privacy and a reduction of their property values, Laurence Sunde said.
But it's early days for the project and all the issues can be ironed out, Ms Main said. Landowners elsewhere in New Zealand had been uneasy about cycleways near their land, but now loved having them.
The SH4 section of the Mountains to Sea Cycleway between the Whanganui River Rd and the Aramoho Railway Bridge was unsafe. It needed to be made safe and was the only section that would bring economic benefit to Wanganui. It would also provide a walking and cycleway between the city and Upokongaro - a project thought of years before the national cycleway network. The total cost of the section has been estimated at $1.75 million. Sport Whanganui is to oversee the project.
Upset landowner Kerry Buchanan has met the council's contracted property buyer twice. At the second meeting he was given easement agreements and told to sign them within three months or his land could be taken under the Public Works Act. "They came and told us what they're going to do. They haven't even discussed it. That's what the annoying piece is," he said.
Riverbank Rd residents have been having meetings about the cycleway. There are many trees and two swimming pools in its path - because residents have been treating the riverside land as their own. Residents have suggested other routes, such as a bridge from Upokongaro to Papaiti Rd or using Kaimatira Rd.
Ms Main said the route could be changed to avoid flooding, or silt could be removed after floods. There were benched sections of track in flood walls built near Upokongaro and Sparrow Cliff, in preparation for the trail, and the New Zealand Transport Agency could add a pedestrian section to the bridge over the Matemateonga Stream.