{"id":267081,"date":"2026-02-04T11:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267081\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:37:10","slug":"cries-of-shame-on-you-as-clutha-councillors-vote-on-looking-into-vehicle-free-zones-on-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267081\/","title":{"rendered":"Cries of ‘shame on you’ as Clutha councillors vote on looking into vehicle-free zones on beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA Clutha District Council ranger talks to a motorist seen driving within metres of resting sea lions. The current rules state vehicles should stay 50m away from wildlife.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Peter de Graaf\n<\/p>\n

Cries of “shame on you” rang out from the public gallery as Clutha councillors voted to drop an investigation into vehicle-free zones on beaches in the district on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The council is instead investigating beach speed limits as a means to protect the coastline and its wildlife, following complaints about drivers harassing seals and sea lions.<\/p>\n

The review of the Vehicles on Beaches bylaw started a year ago after a group allegedly harassed a sea lion<\/a> at Tautuku Beach in the Catlins.<\/p>\n

In 2024, three sea lions were found dead<\/a> with gunshot or stab wounds<\/p>\n

Councillors opted to defer any decision-making until after October’s local elections. Then, at a workshop in December, the new council moved to cancel the beach ‘safe zone’ review.<\/p>\n

That was formalised by a vote at Wednesday’s council meeting, where just one councillor was opposed.<\/p>\n

Councillor Simon McAtamney said he was part of the previous council and he was still open to looking into the safe zone review.<\/p>\n

Councillor Bruce Graham argued vehicle bans would be hard to enforce and there would always be “dickheads that are going to break those rules”.<\/p>\n

“I can’t see any advantage of changing what we have here except for a speed limit changes… I can’t see any advantages of closing beaches or making safe zones,” he said.<\/p>\n

Council staff said work was underway on a speed limit review covering the district’s beaches and it would be complete by October.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, a group of residents could be seen in the back of the chamber holding a sign that read ‘Honour Your Word’.<\/p>\n

When the council voted in favour of scrapping the review, the protesters called out “shame on you” and filed out of the council chambers.<\/p>\n

Earlier, during public deputations, Papatowai Beach resident Keith Olsen argued the beach needed stronger protections to make it safe for all users – human and “non-human”.<\/p>\n

The beach was home to ground-nesting birds such as oystercatchers and had a regular visiting elephant seal, he said.<\/p>\n

Signage was not enough to prevent the dangerous use of vehicles on the beach, Olsen said.<\/p>\n

“Just saying don’t be a dickhead doesn’t cut the mustard with the sort of people who are likely to be dickheads,” he said.<\/p>\n

Papatowai resident Diana Noonan said some councillors had made important promises relating to the environment.<\/p>\n

“I appeal to you today… that you remember your promises from the past and that you do not dishonour them,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Clutha District Council ranger talks to a motorist seen driving within metres of resting sea lions. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-267081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}