The new rules kicked in on Tuesday as part of the newly operative December 2023 Northland Regional Plan (operative in part).
The plan, signed off by the Minister of Conservation in October, was formally voted into effect by Northland Regional Council (NRC).
General rules applying to all of Northland’s beaches have been beefed up to help protect biodiversity such as shorebirds and shellfish. The plan also includes new mapped vehicle exclusion zones with additional requirements.
NRC Pou tiaki taiao Ruben Wylie said the new rules meant the driving of vehicles would be allowed to continue on most of the region’s beaches, provided certain conditions were met.
“Key amongst these conditions is the protection of sensitive habitats and native plants and animals,” Wylie said.
“People will need to be mindful when driving on beaches to avoid sites that contain shellfish beds, bird nesting or roosting sites and indigenous vegetation, such as seagrass and saltmarsh.”
Wylie said vehicle use in the new exclusion zones had been further restricted to manage the risk to significant ecological areas and threatened species.
Any vehicles driving on Northland’s beaches where they shouldn’t now risk fines of up to $500 for breaking the rules.
Vehicles cannot drive on pipi and cockle beds, or damage beds of other types of shellfish such as tuatua or toheroa. However, vehicles harvesting Ninety Mile Beach mussel spat are exempt.
They cannot drive across seagrass meadows, saltmarsh, or mangroves or their aerial roots.
Access to the foreshore is only allowed via authorised or existing lawful vehicle access points.
Vehicles are not allowed to be driven in these exclusion zones, other than for specified exceptions.
These include rescuing or burying a stranded whale or for mobility disability access (if displaying a mobility card).
They also include accessing private property and launching or retrieving boats - although that must be done at the foreshore’s “closest practicable point” in relation to vehicle access.
“It is not anticipated to involve using vehicles to travel hundreds of metres to the ‘best’ or preferred area,” the plan states.
Wylie said the new Regional Plan rules applied only to the area of the beach below high tide, in line with the regional council’s functions under the Resource Management Act.
“In some places, rules administered by a local council or the Department of Conservation may also apply,” Wylie said.
NRC was working with these agencies, NZ Police and tangata whenua on the implementation of the new rules, he said.
There would be a big emphasis on education around the new conditions this summer, before heading towards enforcement.
Important next steps included working with local communities around education about the new maps.
Langs Beach-based Northland Regional Council (NRC) councillor Rick Stolwerk said the new rules would be greatly appreciated by local people. The Ruakākā community had been waiting a long time for them.
Vehicles on Ruakākā Beach (pictured) have been a long-running concern for many locals. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Cr John Blackwell said it was important implementation was sorted ahead of the Christmas rush, when huge numbers of visitors, mostly from Auckland, headed north.
This would otherwise lead to locals enforcing the rules in their areas, which would be chaotic.
Cr Peter-Lucas Jones (Te Aupōuri, Ngāi Takoto) said aspects of Ninety Mile Beach/Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē needed care when it came to vehicles on the beach.
Jones is an NRC representative on the co-governed Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē Board.
Vehicles are allowed on Ninety-Mile Beach (pictured) but councillors are calling for more care. Photo / Paul Shaw
He said landowners were looking closely at beach access across the large areas of privately-owned Māori land behind Ninety Mile Beach.
