Remarkables Road Closure - update: Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to find the polite and diplomatic approach to the impending Remarkables/Rastus Burn road closure. This has involved working with Pat Garden, chair of the Otago Conservation Board, Robin McNeil from FMC as well as some concerned (and angry) local people. I had hoped having well respected people like Pat and Robin involved would provide good representation to find a more balanced approach to NZski’s safety concerns on the road. NZski turned down our request to meet basically saying there was nothing to discuss - they are closing the road and there is no point having a meeting. When pressed about why they were closing the road on Sunday when they have no staff or vehicles on site their answer is “sorry, It’s just closed”. I think the word Arrogant might be a little too polite for NZski! DOC have also failed in their task of representing the conservation users, they did not try to involve the local community, FMC or the NZAC. In my view they have been much too accommodating to a large corporate “business partner” such as NZski (and their owning company Trojan Holdings) and have ignored recreational users (which is one of their primary roles). Fair and reasonable public access to the Remarkables / Rastus Burn conservations area (Lake Alta, Double and Single Cone etc) was part of the original agreement that allowed for the construction of the ski field. To have it taken away without consultation is unacceptable. My concern is that this could become a permanent closure so all users outside of paying winter skiers have lost easy access to the Remarkable alpine area (you can still walk). With the diplomatic approach having failed, the next stage is to generate public support to make the Minister of Conservation know how important this issue is and hopefully force NZski to be at least reasonable. I’ll be getting things organised in the next few days and expecting good support from my friends and NZAC members!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 04:30:44 +0000
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