Locked gate, Dalethorpe Road and Bell Hill Road

[monchopper]

The story so far.....

I mapped a route using my cadastral map overlayed it onto topo map and google earth, rang the Selwyn council's roading engineer and verified the route to be a legit road.

Me and a couple of mates rode up the waimak south side through to Springfield for pint and pie then set off to do the loop. Found the gates to be locked. Not just a small lock a big f@ck off barrier. Big sign saying something like this is Selwyn Plantation Board property and to ring a number to get access.
The next day I rang and enquired about access and to ask why there was a gate blocking access to a public road. I was basically told that it's not a public road and when they grant access it's certainly not to motorcycles and it wasn't open for discussion.
I did a bit of research and found the email address of the CEO of the parent company and sent him a rather terse email. He replied cc'ing in the CEO of the Selwyn Plantation Board Limited (SPBL) saying they would address my concerns.
During this time I organised a trip from Chch to Lake Clearwater, going up the Waimak, down the Dalethorpe Rd down the Selwyn river, through High Peaks station to Terrace downs and around the Glenfalloch station. They agreed to let us through (very big of them!!). It's a nice bit of country side through there!!

1 Year has passed since then and I'm back living in London. But I thought f@ck it I can battle these pr1cks from the other side of the world, so I emailed them back and got a letter back saying that they are within there rights to deny access for various reasons blah blah blah.......... which is bullshit.
I emailed the guy back explaining my position and haven't heard from him. They think I will just go away if they blank me long enough.

So it's time to take action. I'll post a gpx file of the route in the next couple of days. If someone want to organise a trip through then that would be good.
If enough people reckon the route is worth making a bit of a stink about then lets not back down, get those gates unlocked.

[sleemanj]

Hmm.

If council does not co-operate and get the gates unlocked, I wonder who is next up the chain of command, NZTA? Or perhaps a matter for the office of the ombudsman?

There must be some times when a public road can be blocked (eg for events, closing roads in hazardous weather etc), who knows what they are?

[=cJ=]

A hacksaw or grinder may be a worthwhile investment in such a case...

[Ixion]

Hmm.

If council does not co-operate and get the gates unlocked, I wonder who is next up the chain of command, NZTA? Or perhaps a matter for the office of the ombudsman?

There must be some times when a public road can be blocked (eg for events, closing roads in hazardous weather etc), who knows what they are?

Ombudsman. I posted a thread up about getting Leslie Rd near Rotorua opened when the council and the forestry corporation illegally locked it . As to the chains - nuthin says luvin like a gas axe. Portable and needs no electricty.

[dino3310]

stick a match in the lock and break it of, it wont do anything but piss them of when they need to open it with the gas set

[junkmanjoe]

my paper road approach.

i have a farm location map, has all the farmers names, and names of the farms for the whole valley .

so i look them up in the phone book, and give them a call.. talk nicely, and ask for access..
let them know who i am and what we intend to do in there as a single or a small group.
most times im let in, other times not
mostly turned away when lambing is on... which is fair enough..

theres no point telling people to go get fuked its a public rd i can use it....
it doesn't work around here..

my thoughts..

JMJ

[monchopper]

my paper road approach.

i have a farm location map, has all the farmers names, and names of the farms for the whole valley .

so i look them up in the phone book, and give them a call.. talk nicely, and ask for access..
let them know who i am and what we intend to do in there as a single or a small group.
most times im let in, other times not
mostly turned away when lambing is on... which is fair enough..

theres no point telling people to go get fuked its a public rd i can use it....
it doesn't work around here..

my thoughts..

JMJ

I suppose every situation is different and I agree with what you're saying when it comes to land owned by individuals and have spent many hours in the past researching landowners phone numbers etc for trips I've planned see This Trip I had consent from around 20 farmers for a 4 day trip, much of which was on paper roads. I probably didn't have to call them but out of courtesy I did, which I think is the generally accepted approach my most reasonable bikers.

.... But DOC land and land owned by big companies are different in my view.

I suspect the Selwyn Plantation Board (or at least some of there staff) receive income from charging hunters to hunt deer on there land and see the unlocking of the gate as a risk to that revenue stream.

[thepom]

Lets organise a ride and see if we can get through or a response from some one in authority....

[bishxt]

thepom
Lets organise a ride and see if we can get through or a response from some one in authority....

Sounds like a good idea - perhaps monochopper could post or pm the contacts for the Selwyn Plantation Board and the emails/escalation of the issue can begin... hopefully with ride access resulting at the end of it

[jimichelle]

hmmm everytime i was allowed into forest land i had to have spark arresters fitted and you had better have public liability insurance to the tune of a couple of million the groups i went in with (4x4) did

[monchopper]

hmmm everytime i was allowed into forest land i had to have spark arresters fitted and you had better have public liability insurance to the tune of a couple of million the groups i went in with (4x4) did

If you were driving/riding on the forest owners land that may be the case that you need some kind of insurance.
This route is a public road and your liability is no more than driving on State highway 1 through the Herbert forest.
However spark arrestors are generally a good idea.

[monchopper]

OK the contact at the SPBL
Marcel van Leeuwen
IT/Operations Manager
Selwyn Plantation Board Ltd,
P.O.Box 48, Darfield. 7541
email Marcel@spbl.co.nz
Office 03 3188311
Web http://www.spbl.co.nz

Selwyn District Council
Contact (last time I rang) Mark Chamberlain (spelliing?)
council@selwyn.govt.nz


I've attached the GPS file of the loop from Springfield. I couldn't upload the gpx file directly so I've copy the text into a word .doc document.

Another little gem that may be worth investigating is High Peak Rd. Again the track on the ground matches up with the 'legal line'. I spoke to the farmer and he tried to scare me off by saying the road goes through a motorbike eating swamp. The google earth images don't suggest that the land is boggy but then again I'm no geography expert.
I've attached the road as well.
I think there are a number of opportunities in this area. They are within day trip distance from chch.

[monchopper]

Right guys. I'm not keen to let this drop so.....

I'm going to be back in Chch for a holiday and need to do a quick trip to get comfortable on the bike I'm going to be using for a 4 dayer the next weekend.

So if anyone is keen to do a 1/2 day trip up the south side of the Waimak to springfield pie and pint then do the loop mentioned in this thread then back down the southside.

It would be a good opportunity for some chch kb'ers to have a look at this loop as it is fully on a public road reserve and is illegally locked and hopefully take up the battle with the gate lockers.

Unfortunately it has to be a school day.
So the 2 dates I can do it are either
1st March (Tues) or
2nd March (Wed)

Loose plan to meet at the stop bank McLeans Island road around 12.30 back around 6.30 - 7.00pm

Any takers?

Here is photo taken in the area

[PirateJafa]

Logically, if someone has illegally locked a public road, surely you would be within your rights to reopen it, be it with gasaxe, boltcutters or whatever?

Surely you would be doing a public service?

[monchopper]

Logically, if someone has illegally locked a public road, surely you would be within your rights to reopen it, be it with gasaxe, boltcutters or whatever?

Surely you would be doing a public service?

Yup, but this isn't just a locked gate it's a massive barrier structure with the lock cased in a large metal surround with just the key hole showing!!