Buggies, bikes support for Waimairi

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 5

Buggies, bikes support for Waimairi

Beach buggies and motorcycles should be allowed in the Waimairi Beach sand dunes, a New Brighton man contends.

Mr D. L. Payne rejects statements by beachside residents and the Waimairi District Council that the vehicles should be prohibited. In a letter to “The Press” he suggested a fenced area could be set aside for vehicle users. Beach and sand dune use by vehicles was “quite illegal,” said the council’s Styx riding representative, Cr A. A. Adcock. However, he said council staff and concerned residents should meet Mr Payne and other beach users to discuss the issue.

Last week 46 people living in the Broad StreetBeach Road area asked the council and the Ministry of Transport to halt noise, erosion, and danger risks caused by the vehicles. They said beach buggies and motor-cycles were driven at speed through residential streets before heading into the dunes. Mr Payne said there were a “few idiots who drove recklessly” but they were a minority making it hard for a sensible majority. The majority could organise volunteer rangers to “straighten out” irresponsible beach users.

Cr Adcock said the issues could be discussed at a meeting in the next few weeks. He said he would be interested to see if there was another suitable area for vehicles elsewhere in the district

A compromise would be difficult as vehicles on the dunes were incompactible with the area’s normal recreational use.

Fencing off an area for beach buggies and motorcycles would cost thousands of dollars, said Cr Adcock. Without a permit the vehicles were not permitted on the dunes or beach. To be used in a public place the vehicles needed to be licensed and warranted but many were homemade and not up to standard. Cr Adcock said the vehicles stripped vegetation from the dunes, making them unstable and prone to windblow. The council was already concerned about the stability of the Waimairi Beach dunes. Problems had been experienced in the area for 100 years.

To combat erosion trees had been planted in the nearby Bottle Lake Plantation. The Christchurch City Council had been long concerned about fire risk to those trees. Cr Adcock said modified vehicles being used in that area increased the fire risk.