Owners face opening of land to public

By RUTH BERRY political reporter

Many property owners whose land adjoins beaches, lakes and other desirable recreational spots might be forced to allow the public on to their land if proposals in a report released yesterday are upheld.

The Government-commissioned report has found that the public's right to enjoy New Zealand's outdoors is more limited than commonly thought and the conventions and rules governing access are increasingly unstable.

This was creating "conflict between tangata whenua, agencies, users and landowners" and mounting public concern, it said.

The most obvious misconception was regarding the Queen's Chain.

It was often thought all water bodies were ringed by 20m strips of public land above the high-tide mark, but about a third of that land was in private ownership.

The report, by the Land Access Reference Group, said action was needed, but this would inevitably spark controversy about the rights of private property owners - with farmers particularly affected.

Yesterday, the Government admitted there were links between public access questions and the foreshore and seabed debate but tried to keep the issues separate.

But the report will throw up other questions to do with foreshore and seabed, primarily whether the Government will take greater care with the rights of existing private property title-holders than it will with iwi and hapu who are seeking to have the courts uphold what they claim are existing common law rights to foreshore and seabed.

Maori and iwi groups consulted in the report expressed strong views about private property rights, stressing they would not tolerate the Government imposing access conditions on their land.

The report said the most important "initial step" towards improving access to water margins was for the Government to decide whether the concept of the Queen's Chain remained valid and needed to be "reinforced, promoted or extended".

Submissions to the group made it clear New Zealanders were firmly of that view, the report said.

A number of proposals - centred on setting up an agency to mediate land access - have been recommended to tackle the issue. Alternatively the Government could decide that property rights should not be adjusted.

Prime Minister Helen Clark made supportive noises about improving public access rights yesterday but, with Rural Affairs Minister Jim Sutton, sidestepped questions on the report's recommendations.

Mr Sutton said the Government had reached no decisions on what should be done and a four-month consultation process would now follow.

But the debate over private property rights is set to be another can of worms for the Government, already struggling to define customary rights in relation to land.

The report found that New Zealanders had a high level of interest in property rights but a low level of agreement about what those rights actually meant.

The debate will raise the question of whether the Government is willing to compensate property owners for changes relating to public access to their land.

National MP David Carter said this "start of the erosion of private property rights" would make farmers "very nervous".

The report warned that doing nothing on the land access issue would create long-term problems.

Demand for public access would grow as the population grew older, more Asian and more Polynesian "with an increased preference for the coastal environment".

The report proposed the formation of a land access strategy with five objectives: to strengthen leadership, improve certainty, embrace the Queen's Chain ethos, encourage negotiated solutions and improve present legislation.



Access rights



Access to many beaches, lakes and mountain areas is restricted as parts of them are in private ownership or access to them is blocked by privately owned land.

The report says people want greater access to these areas and the Government should act in the public's interest.

Improving public access will create a stoush with some private landowners and raise questions about whether action can be taken against their will.

The Government said the public's right to enjoy the beach was jeopardised by the foreshore and seabed case. Iwi can now argue many private landowners already deny the public access and ask why the Government is planning to treat them differently than other private property owners.

The Government argues it does not want to create or confirm exclusive new private property interests in beaches.