A day at the beach was less than peaceful on Saturday when protesters preventing four-wheel-drives from driving across Ruakaka sand dunes clashed with angry locals and people going fishing. The Bream Bay Coastal Care Group entrenched themselves in sand and argued that 4WDs were hazardous to bathers and damaging to dunes. Aheated argument broke out between the group members and locals who insisted they had no right to block off the beach. Trust secretary Bev Woods said the situation escalated quite unexpectedly: "After quite a heated discussion we realised we all want the same thing - our space. The problem is the ongoing issue of access which is what we were trying to address. We all agreed that this access problem is dividing the community and a resolution needs to be sought," she said. Ruakaka resident John Srhoj said people used cars on the beach for a number of reasons and had done for many years. "Everyone agrees that it's not nice to drive through bathers but the access shouldn't be closed until an alternative is found," he said. "Why aren't the council doing something? They knew the protest was going on but instead of coming down and talking to us they left us to fight amongst ourselves. Not even the people who are up for election came to look. You'd think they'd take an interest in a big local issue." Ms Woods thought the best solution for everyone would be to create a vehicle track south of the swimming area, but she said a year of negotiations with the Whangarei District Council and DOC had produced no results. "It has become evident that DOC and WDC are at loggerheads and won't sort it out. We need a resolution before Labour Weekend. DOC said 10,000 people come to Ruakaka at Christmas. We need help now," she said.
