Waimārama Beach’s rock roadblock: Is it legal? Is it safe? And can it be made permanent?

Boulders put over an entrance to Waimārama Beach by an iwi leader have divided the community and those who use the beach for recreation. The move has significant support, but the drivers of at least two vehicles found themselves forced to wait for tides as a result this week. Is it legal? If you’re Hastings District Council the answer is, ‘it’s complicated’. Hamish Bidwell reports.

The already vexed and emotive issue of vehicle use on Waimārama Beach hit a roadblock over the past week.

Quite literally, in fact, following revelations Ngāti Kahungunu iwi chairman Bayden Barber has placed a series of boulders at the end of Tiakitai Rd to prevent vehicle access to the beach.

It’s a situation authorities appear at a loss to explain.

Be it the New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) or the Hastings District Council (HDC), no one was able to adequately explain what a road is, if blocking one is lawful and if others were now permitted to block roads wherever they see fit.

Police referred questions to HDC, while Fenz wouldn’t comment about Tiakitai Rd specifically.

A spokesperson instead suggested that where fire crews know “of any issues with access”, they instead use “alternative routes to get to emergencies in the quickest time possible”.

Sophie Siers (left) and Ngati Kahungunu iwi chairman Bayden Barber are among the most vocal about the need to ban vehicles on Waimārama Beach. Photo / NZME

Which takes us to the council and deputy chief executive Bruce Allan.

“The land ownership pattern at the end of Tiakitai Rd is complicated and the area in which the rocks have been put may or may not be ‘road’ in the legal sense,” Allan said.

“Assuming it is legally ‘road’, the public have a right to pass over it, but that does not mean they must physically be able to do so by vehicle or even at all.

“We have no legal obligation to maintain vehicle access over it. The rocks are not stopping people from walking over it.”

Limestone boulders have been placed to prevent vehicle access on Waimārama Beach. Photo / Warren Buckland

Allan says the Hastings district has ‘paper’ roads that pass over cliffs, for instance, so the definition of roads and the ability to pass over them can be a grey area.

Gavin Lindsay is a Waimārama “weekender”. He lives at Haumaona but has a property at Waimārama and was at the beach on Thursday to check his cray pots.

He’s not a fan of the rocks on Tiakitai Rd, for one specific reason.

“When you’re coming back from the beach at high tide, you won’t be able to get across that last stretch [of Puhokio Stream],” Lindsay said.

“He [Barber] is actually putting people in danger, because you’re stuck on the beach and there’s no way off the beach until the next low tide.”

As if on cue, Tiakitai Rd resident Robyn Taylor messaged Hawke’s Bay Today a few hours later to say a ute had tried to cross the stream and become stuck.

Fellow Waimārama resident Anne Gibbs later supplied a photo.

Residents say vehicles were unable to leave Waimārama Beach because the exit was blocked and the tide was too high to get to the next exit. Photo / Anne Gibbs

Both women say these are among the unintended consequences of that access point being blocked.

This isn’t the first time the issue of vehicle use on the beach has come up.

Waimārama identity and community leader Richard Gaddum has previously been pretty relaxed about the situation.

But that was until two incidents that prompted him to organise an open day at the Waimārama Hall earlier this month, to discuss how the community wants to respond to an antisocial few using the beach as a racetrack.

“My daughter and grandchildren have twice been terrorised by vehicles on the beach,” Gaddum said.

Usually a calm and deliberate talker, Gaddum’s voice seemed to tremble each time he mentioned the word “grandchildren”.

“It’s not until your own family and grandchildren get traumatised by this type of thing that you form a view on what should happen,” he said.

He welcomes what’s happened on Tiakitai Rd.

“The rocks that Bayden’s put there have caused a lot of people to air their views,” Gaddum said.

“Some have been quite hostile but, at the end of the day, the thing about these rocks is they’ve actually promoted a discussion about vehicles on the the beach and, if nothing else, that’s a good thing.”

He’s urging people to make their opinion known to HDC before public consultation closes on December 22, and support whatever process or decision follows.

Among the many complications, though, is the land ownership issue Allan mentioned, which is not confined to Tiakitai Rd.

Barber, for instance, this week told Hawke’s Bay Today there are other roads by which to access the beach.

Ross Taylor has lived on Tiakitai Rd with wife Robyn for 18 years. The loss of their beach access means they travel 3km through the village, with their grandchildren, to access the beach via Airini Rd.

So do many other people, given other access roads are on private land.

Airini Rd is also where many children play in and around the lagoon and he worries all the vehicles wanting access to the beach are now being funnelled down a road where the most pedestrians are congregated.

On a bad day, the Taylors will have drivers racing and doing donuts outside their house for “six or eight hours”.

Like Gaddum and Barber, the Taylors have tried to reason with them, with varying degrees of success.

But the Taylors still believe policing the problem and enforcement of the 20km/h speed limit on the beach is better than a ban.

Opinion is divided about what to do about vehicles on Waimārama Beach. Photo / NZME

Rural Community Constable Brad Clark says he’s doing his best, while a police spokesperson added that police will be increasing their presence in Waimārama over summer.

But, as Gaddum readily admits, police can’t be there all the time.

That’s partly what confuses Robyn Taylor about why there are boulders on her road.

Cameras are a solution floated by some, to identify those drivers abusing the speed limit on the beach.

“There are cameras up at the end of Tiakitai Rd already,” said Taylor.

Which brings us back to those rocks and whether they’ve been lawfully placed in the first instance.

Ross Taylor worries more might be coming and that he and his wife won’t be able to access their home.

And what’s stopping residents throughout the Hastings District blocking roads as they see fit?

“Individuals are not welcome to block roads - paper or otherwise,” Allan said.

“But we recognise there are significant safety concerns at the beach and we are talking to the community in order to understand the situation and their aspirations, which are quite varied.”

Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.