Beach speed limit is still too hard

Some time prior to 1989, when it was amalgamated out of existence, the Mangonui County Council adopted a bylaw that imposed a 30mph speed limit on 90 Mile Beach west of the Kaka Street access at Ahipara. That fact apparently continues to elude the Far North District Council (and the police), however, and Ahipara residents - fed up with hoons on motorbikes - are again calling on the Far North District Council to slow them down.

The council was not unsympathetic last week, but didn't like the timing.

The council heard last week that the problem was escalating, to the point where it was threatening wildlife and tourism. During school holidays and weekends it was too dangerous to sit on the beach, and sooner or later someone would be killed, as happened on Ripiro Beach in 2007, when 13-year-old Daisy Fernandez died after being hit by a motorcycle.

Last week's council agenda included consideration of a 30km/h speed limit 300 metres each side of the Foreshore Road and Kaka Street access beach points, a group of Ahipara residents telling councillors that that didn't go far enough. Ahipara Community Coast Care spokesman Doug Klever wanted the 30km/h limit to apply from Kaka Street to Shipwreck Bay, a distance of 2.3 kilometres, and vehicles to stay below the high tide mark when possible.

"The amount of dangerous driving there is just phenomenal," he said.

"During certain times of the year you just can't go down to the beach safely. It's starting to get out of hand."

Residents could not picnic on the beach or sit in front of their own homes, Mr Klever said, adding that motorbikes, quad bikes and vehicles towing people on boards (skurfing) were the main offenders.

"We're not asking for a ban on vehicles. We're just asking people to use the beach considerately," he said.

He acknowledged, however, that any rule would be hard to enforce given the number of police in the area.

Fellow resident Brian Farrant said he had been woken at 11.15 the night before the meeting by a motorbike "doing its stuff" outside his home. He estimated the rider, who had earlier spent much of the day hooning around Ahipara's back streets, was travelling at 80km/h.

People came to Ahipara to ride because they believed they could do what they liked in the Far North, Mr Farrant said. When he asked riders why they came to Ahipara they told him, "Because there's no cops here."

Mr Klever said the area stretching two kilometres west of Kaka Street had long been been a conservation zone and was frequented by 28 species of birds, including the endangered New Zealand dotterel.

The group had fenced off the dunes and was waiting nervously to see if the fences and birds' nests survived the school holidays. Of 27 dotterel eggs laid in recent years, only five had hatched.

Badly-behaved riders were also damaging tourism in the area, he added. Guests at a beachfront lodge had cancelled bookings or left early due to the noise, and if tourists asked him where they could sit safely on the beach, he had to tell them, "Nowhere."

Recent accidents on the beach include one near Tauroa in July when a 50-year-old man and his 13-year-old daughter suffered serious chest injuries in a quad bike crash.

For the board

The council's view, however, was that the imposition of a speed limit should be a decision for the statutory board that will be established to manage 90 Mile Beach.

Mayor Wayne Brown said everyone at the council table sympathised with the residents' concerns, but adopting a "toothless" bylaw at this stage would pre-empt the incoming board, and risked annoying Te Rarawa.

The board, promulgated as part of the Crown's treaty settlement with iwi, will comprise representatives of the Crown, iwi, the Department of Conservation and the district council,aiming to preserve conservation values whilst maintaining public access and recreation. It will initially be chaired by Te Runanga o Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi.

The board, Mr Brown said, would have greater authority over the beach than the council, and the resources to manage it. The council's authority remained unclear, making enforcement difficult. The board would be able to address a host of issues, including traffic, shellfish poaching and dune protection, he added.

The council resolved to pass the residents' request to the board, Mr Piripi saying he regarded it as reasonable, and that he expected the board to support it.

Traffic on the beach was a real concern in terms of both conservation and child safety, but enforcement would be difficult.

"It's an education issue and a community issue. At the moment beach users are being intimidated by these people, so we have to stand up to them," he said, adding that the recreational rights of beach users far outweighed the rights of a few joyriders. Mr Piripi expected the new board to be up and running within the next 12 months.