Outdoor Access Commission highlights value of public access to beaches and rivers

Latest News

Outdoor Access Commission highlights value of public access to beaches and rivers

March 9, 2023

Aquatics / Environment / Recreation /

New Zealand’s Outdoor Access Commission (Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa) has highlighted that public access to the water should not be restricted because of private landowners barricading their property from rising waters.

Recent terrible storms have caused many landholders near riverbanks or beside the coast to consider building walls between themselves and the water.

Herenga ā Nuku Chief Executive Ric Cullinane says it is important that these seawalls and barricades do not obstruct public access to the outdoors for other New Zealanders.

Cullinane advises "As the sea rises and pushes up against private property, the public access strip that often sits between the water and private land gets pinched.

“For the most part, our planning regulations protect public access as we adapt. But part of the problem is incremental encroachment from private landholders into neighbouring public space. Tennis courts, BBQ spaces and gazebo gardens, along with actual walls, can make people walking past feel as though they are trespassing, even when they are on public land.”

New Zealand’s rivers regularly change course, and the sea erodes coastal land. Traditionally, public access along those rivers and the seas has often shifted back and forth with the water. But if private landholders build outwards and upwards, the public access strips between private land and the water could be sacrificed.

Cullinane says that while public access rights along waterways do not give Kiwi access to all beaches and rivers, it is a concept close to most New Zealanders’ hearts, and is worth protecting and enhancing.

Cullinane adds "Public access along marine areas and rivers is an important, if incomplete, part of our public access network. Anyone can walk along most beaches and many rivers. It connects us to both land and water.”

27th October 2022 - Josephine Elworthy secures outdoor access champion award for Clevedon trails

7th December 2020 - Dr Gordon Hosking announced as recipient of Outdoor Access Champion Award

14th May 2019 - New Zealand Old Ghost Road trail to receive Outdoor Access Champion Award

2nd June 2013 - Outdoor access projects to receive walking access funding

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.