Auckland's Muriwai Beach to close to vehicles for first time over summer season
Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Safety concerns and fire risks have led to a decision to bar vehicles from a popular Auckland beach over summer.
Muriwai Beach on the west coast is one of just two Auckland beaches where people are allowed to drive with a special permit.
Auckland Council said that in the 12 months leading up to June 2020, 2715 people had applied for and obtained a permit to drive on the beach – but this is estimated to be less than half of the actual number of vehicles that drive on it.
Vehicle access points at Coast Rd, Rimmer Rd, and Wilson Rd will be closed from December 23 until January 10, 2021.
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Tasman Rd will remain closed as it did under normal seasonal restrictions.
Rodney Local Board chairman Phelan Pirrie said it was the first time the council and other agencies had chosen to close access to vehicles over the busiest weeks of summer.
Other agencies involved in the decision include Fire and Emergency, police, the Department of Conservation, Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Kaipara Ngahere and the surf life saving club.
Pirrie said the whole of Muriwai was “incredibly popular” over summer and this year was likely to be no different.
“First and foremost, this decision is about safety and fire risk. This is an opportunity to limit vehicles in sensitive areas like the dunes and in the adjacent forest where summer fire risk is extremely high.”
Pirrie said that when hundreds of people were using the beach, including young children, removing vehicles from the mix was a “no-brainer”.
Locals living in the vicinity of the beach previously told Stuff they wanted Auckland Council to provide a better way to manage vehicles on it without closing access altogether.
They said they had attempted to work with the council to introduce a better management plan – but officials had not been too responsive.
Muriwai Community Association president Simon Leitch said they had witnessed a successful model introduced by the Muriwai Fishing Club.
It is self-policed and sees members given a gate key to access the beach. Those who break the rules of their membership have their key access revoked.
Leitch said the council would be better off doing something similar rather than its permit system, as it was not working.
There are a growing number of people who were on the beach “ripping around” in the dunes, lighting fires, and not respecting the environment and other beach users, he said.
There had “definitely” been more crashes in recent years.
“It is not a case of if but when there will be more nasty accidents and no-one wants that.”
Muriwai local Bruce Ritchie said driver behaviour was increasingly bad, and there was a lack of respect for other beach users and the environment.
He had no problem with the decision to close vehicle access for the summer period as it was a peak time but said he would not like to see it last any longer than that.
Ritchie said many locals drove on to the beach for activities such as fishing and kite surfing. To have that freedom taken away entirely would be “just not right”.
He is part of the fire brigade and has seen a number of incidents on the beach, including a “nasty” motorbike crash which left a rider critically injured.
Weekends see the worst of it and Ritchie said it was “quite literally like Mad Max”.
He had seen people lying on roofs on four-wheel-drives as they were being driven, people on trail bikes with no helmets, and many doing wheelies.
Auckland Council general manager of parks, sport and recreation Mace Ward agreed the number of vehicles on the beach had increased significantly in recent years.
Ward said that on October 26 there were 1700 vehicle movements on the beach and with people not travelling as much because of Covid-19, increased visitation to the beach this summer was expected.
“When you have a popular recreation location that is also considered a drivable road, the mix of uses can lead to dire consequences,” Ward said.
“We have seen dozens of vehicle incidents over the years, some with tragic outcomes and others that are near-misses, silly mistakes or clear cases of bad decision-making by inexperienced drivers.”
Ward said another disappointing factor was the damage caused to fragile dunes and coastal ecosystems, fire damage and anti-social behaviour.
He said he expected a mixed reaction to the decision to close the beach for the short period. The council had received many submissions from community members who wanted to see changes to the way the vehicle access was managed, he said.
A review of the management plan is under way but no decisions have been made. In February 2021 staff will submit and workshop ideas to improve the management of vehicles on the beach.
Auckland Council said signs would be put up near closed entrances to the beach, as well as signs at major turnoffs along State Highway 16 to Muriwai.
Park staff and police would also have a visible presence at the beach.