Walking Access Consultation
From NzGpsWiki
The document being consulted is available here. A pdf version is available here. These questions have been taken directly from the submission document. The Walking Access Consultation website has more details.
Questions
Aim
1 Does the aim capture the two, often conflicting, values that many New Zealanders hold dear: access to our many natural recreational resources and having our very own piece of dirt? If not, how could the aim be improved?
Principles
2 Do you agree with the proposed principles? If not, please be specific and suggest any alternatives.
Information about access rights
Notes
- Need to add some background about the Society, our users, and GPS use for recretional purposes to set context for our replies in this section
3 What information should be included in a mapping database?
Formal reply - To be completed
Notes
- Entry/Exit (required,points) - used to identify access points to public walking access land
- Parking (optional,points) - used to identify preferred places for parking vehicles, if appropriate
- Walking Access Tracks (optional,lines) - used to show preferred tracks through public walking access land
- Walking Access Area (required,polygons) - used to highlight public walking access land and differentiate it from private land
4 What is an appropriate balance or mix between the provision of paper maps and dependence on internet access?
Formal reply - To be completed
Notes
Paper Maps
- Project shouldn't directly provide paper maps as they are expensive and outdate very quickly.
- Project should provide pdf's at appropriate scales that can be downloaded and printed as appropriate
- Copyright should allow any organisation to freely print and charge for the cost of printing and distribution
Electronic Maps
- Project should ensure that it complies with the eventual outcomes of the governments Geospatial Strategy currently being developed by Land Information New Zealand, including the use of interoperable geospatial standards and discovery services.
- Project should provide all information via OpenGis Consortium (OGC) Services such as the Web Feature Service (WFS).
- Project should provide all information in a downloadable format such as the OGC Geographic Markup Language (GML) - ideally available via BitTorrent to handle the potentially large file sizes and to distribute the bandwidth required. Various government agencies could share the hosting costs - e.g. MAF, LINZ and DOC for example could seed the BitTorrent tracker.
- Copyright must allow free redistribution of electronic maps, as well as incorporation of data into commercially available GPS maps to ensure the widest possible distribution. This is required to allow individuals associated to the Society to incorporate walking access mapping information into both free and commercially available maps for handheld mapping GPS units in New Zealand. See the New Zealand Open GPS Maps Project (open source and free) and New Zealand Garmin Maps (most popular commercial maps). The developers of both these maps sets are members of the New Zealand Recreational GPS Society - one is a member of the committee.
- Copyright must allow distribution of derived products.
- The project should investigate providing the data to free webmapping services such as Google Maps and Windows Live Local to ensure that the information is widely accessible and easily found by popular mapping services.
5 What map scale is necessary to make the maps useful?
Formal reply - To be completed
Notes
- For downloadable detailed maps in pdf format it is probably appropriate to use a scale somewhere between 1:5000 and 1:15000 to present an appropriate level of detailed information.
- For online web accessible maps scale is not an issue as the maps are generated on the fly to suit the level of zoom.
- Map scale is not an issue for users of the WFS or downloaded GML data.
- Map scale is not an issue for handheld GPS maps as these are set by the developers of the maps and can be customised by the handheld GPS user.
6 What other matters do you believe are relevant to making information about access rights useful?
Signposting
7 Is signposting necessary at all?
Notes
Yes.
8 How extensive should signposting be? (For example, is it more appropriate or desirable to signpost places where people are allowed or not allowed?)
Notes
Signposting is necessary at the start of the track/access point. It is important to inform people who are looking for the access that they are in the correct location, and this can be used as an opportunity to inform them about conditions of access etc.
9 Who should be responsible for signposting?
10 Who should bear the cost of signposting?
Code of responsible conduct
11 Should a code of responsible conduct apply only to access over private land, or only to public land, or to both?
12 Should a code of responsible conduct be legally enforceable (such as a regulatory or statutory code)? If so, what do you think are the main things that need to be included in such a code?
13 Should a code of responsible conduct be non-regulatory, focusing on promoting good behaviour through education, clarifying existing laws and recommending best practice? If so, what do you think the code should include?
Access agency
14 What, in your opinion, should be the purposes of an agency, and what should be its main functions?
15 Taking into account your view of the purposes and functions of an agency, what organisational form should it take, and why? For example:
- a branded unit within an existing government department;
- a trust, similar to the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust;
- a Crown entity;
- a Commissioner accountable to Parliament.
Dispute resolution
16 How can disputes between landowners and recreational users be resolved? Some possibilities are:
- reliance on the Trespass Act;
- mediation (non-binding) by:
- an access agency
- a government department
- local authorities
- someone else.
17 How can intractable situations, where a landholder refuses to negotiate, be resolved?
Property rights
18 Please comment on any other property rights issues that may be of concern.
Realignment of displaced water margin access
19 Do you support the realignment of water margin reserves where these have been displaced?
20 Is there an alternative that would make these reserves practically usable?
Gaps in water margin access
21 There are gaps in public access to water margins. How do you think these gaps might be remedied? Possibilities include:
- voluntary agreement on a case-by-case basis between landholders and users;
- an arrangement whereby landholders agree that the land is to be held in a trust for access purposes, in a manner similar to that provided for in the Queen Elizabeth the Second National Trust Act 1977;
- establishment of esplanade reserves or strips on subdivision;
- the acquisition of the land or easements over the land by or on behalf of the Crown;
- the scrutiny of acquisitions of land by overseas persons as provided by the Overseas Investment Act 2005;
- any other process or mechanism you believe is appropriate.
Negotiated access
22 What would encourage landholders to agree to formal, certain and enduring legal access? Possibilities include:
- monetary payment;
- rates relief;
- provision of fencing, signage and/or maintenance;
- provision of facilities such as toilets and car parking;
- ability to close or restrict access at certain times;
- ability to shift the route if necessary;
- removal of any liability to persons exercising access;
- the ability to “trial” the right of access before deciding;
- indemnity for damage caused by a user;
- the establishment of a code of responsible conduct;
- other (please describe).
Resource Management Act
23 Local authorities administer the esplanade reserve and associated provisions of the RMA. The provision of esplanade reserves and esplanade strips on subdivision is one of the most significant current mechanisms for creating new water margin access (the other process is creating marginal strips on the sale of Crown land). Is this mechanism still appropriate? If no, does the current process for creating esplanade reserves and strips on subdivision need to be changed if access is to be increased?
24 Do you think the following measures would be appropriate for establishing new access:
- a review of how well local government has reflected the purpose in section 6 of the RMA in its decision making, especially in the creation of esplanade reserves;
- assistance to local authorities where lack of resources is a barrier either to the creation of esplanade reserves and strips and/or their maintenance (how could assistance be given?);
- removal of the requirement to compensate if taking reserve or strip on subdivision into lots over four hectares;
- assistance to local authorities to produce “access strategies” to guide applications for resource consent and in proposing road stopping (how could assistance be given?);
- provision of more central government guidance via the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement or a National Policy Statement on access under the RMA;
- change to the local authority discretion to waive or reduce reserve and strip requirements?
Access to water margins and other public land
25 How could access to water margin reserves and to other public land by crossing private land be improved? Possibilities include:
- voluntary agreement on a case-by-case basis between landholders and walkers;
- an arrangement whereby landholders agree for the land to be protected or covenanted in a manner similar to that provided for in the Queen Elizabeth the Second National Trust Act 1977;
- the establishment of access strips by local authorities;
- the use of unformed legal roads;
- other (please describe).
Priorities
26 The provision of new access opportunities and rationalisation of existing access will generally need to be done on a case-by-case basis, and will be time-consuming and costly. Resources will need to be prioritised. What are the priorities to be addressed first?
27 Who should provide the funding for new access and to what level?
28 To what extent can your organisation assist in setting priorities?
Unformed legal roads
29 If unformed legal roads traversing farm or forest land are marked on maps and/or signposted, what issues are likely to arise and how might they be addressed:
- for users
- for adjacent landholders
- for local government?
30 How might obstructions to walking access, such as deer fences, on unformed legal roads be dealt with?
31 How can weeds, pests and environmental damage in respect of the use of unformed legal roads for walking be managed?
32 Do you consider that there is scope for stopping unformed legal roads in exchange for alternative walking access?
Possible health and safety liability of landholders
33 As a farmer, are you familiar with the Farm Bulletin published by the Department of Labour, “If visitors to my farm are injured, am I liable?” If yes, are you still concerned about your liabilities to visitors under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, and what are your specific concerns?
Fire risk
34 The Panel has no specific questions on the issue of fire risk, but any comment would be welcome.
Biosecurity
35 Please provide details of any specific biosecurity risk that you consider may be exacerbated by persons exercising walking access to land.
Rural crime and security
36 How could the community help to combat rural crime?
37 Any other comments on rural crime and access are welcome.
Treaty of Waitangi concerns, access rights to Maori land, and wahi tapu and rahui.
38 The Panel would welcome comment on Treaty of Waitangi concerns, access rights to Maori land, and wahi tapu and rahui.
