Submission to the Acland Walking Access Consultation Panel
Council of Outdoor RecreationAssociations of NZ Inc
28 July 2006
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Appendix 3
Access Issues categorised and ranked in terms of time difficulty
The Public Access Strategy (Version 1) of Public Access New Zealand, of June 2003 , “Improving Public Access to the Outdoors – a strategy for implementing Government’s election policies” is of major interest. It lists many straightforward things that can be done to improve public access immediately. It is a very worthwhile and complementary template for moving forward.
It is broader and more detailed than the Acland Report, and has six themes:
- Lost lands – reclaiming and distributing information on the public estate (Queen’s Chain, legal roads, publicly owned lands cf Acland’s Object 2)
- Public Roads and Paths – publicly owned access for all to the countryside
- Queen’s Chain – maintain & extend public reserves along water margins (Acland’s Object 3)
- Rivers, Lakes and Lake beds – securing public ownership and public recreation
- Foreshore and Seabed – ensuring public access & ownership
- Fishing and Hunting Access – public access to publicly owned natural resources
It has a simple action plan with detailed action at three levels:
Level 1 (easy) – apply existing law; no law changes, just action
Level 2 (medium) – Extension of existing law; build on what’s already there
Level 3 (hard) – New law and significant change
There are 41 proposed actions, including such simple steps as showing the Queen’s Chain on maps. These highlight the woeful neglect by officials and others. Instant action to improve public access can be taken on many issues, should the government will exist.
This is direct proof as to why an independent Access Commissioner to achieve change is so important. The PANZ Strategy also has the advantage of delivering benefits quickly.
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