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Paper Roads
Originally
Published in Nelson Marlborough Farming
November 2010
We
sometimes have clients contact us who are
having various problems with a paper road A
paper (or unformed road) refers to land that
has the status of legal road, but has not
been formed or maintained by the local
council. There a number of paper roads
around New Zealand and many of these roads
were laid out in the late 19th or early 20th
century and have never been used for access.
Generally
speaking the right of public access to these
legal, but never formed roads, is the same
as for a formed road. Usually these legal
roads are farmed by adjoining landowners
with or without a formal agreement with the
local Authority . The rules do vary from one
council to another so it pays to contact
your local one to clarify. There are a
number of situations where unformed roads
are being used by adjoining land owners
unbeknown to council and it may be a case of
what council does not know won't hurt them.
Since the
existence of these roads are often not known
by the public, or there their exact location
isunclear, historically they have not been a
significant problem to many land owners.
Although this anonymity does provide some
sense of security to properties adjoining
paper roads, there has been a recent move
towards publicising the encouraging the
public to utilise them. These potential
users include hikers , mountain bikers, four
wheel drive clubs, etc.
Such paper
roads can be a source of conflict to farmers
where members of the public are aware of
their location and choose to exercise their
right of access.
Landowners
with concerns over a paper road should
initially investigate the status of the road
through a surveyor or search agent, and
possibly identify its location through
aerial photographs or a physical on site
survey.
Closing
A Paper Road
One option
is to apply to close the road (technically
known as a road stopping) and to purchase
the stopped road from council. Although the
stopping of a legal road can be bit of a
drama , many rural land owners will choose
to go through the process where the
ownership of the road is critical in terms
of security, effective farm management, or
where buildings or other infrastructure
encroach into to the paper road
The
majority of the paper roads in New Zealand
are controlled by local Authorities, and the
stopping of them can be done either under
the Local Government Act 1974 or the Public
Works Act.1981 If it is done under the Local
Government Act it is subject to public
notification and possible objection by
parties who feel adversely affected or
otherwise aggrieved by the road stopping.
The first
step in this process is to make an
application to your local council to see if
they are willing to part with the road. You
can do this yourself or get someone
knowledgeable about the process such a land
surveyor surveyor to assist. The council
will consider issues such as the need for
public and private access, the requirements
of network operators and future roading
plans in deciding whether the road is
surplus to requirements.
If council
agrees to undertake the stopping of the
road, all costs such as legal, surveying and
valuation are generally met by the person
acquiring the stopped road as well as the
cost of the land purchase. This article is
general in nature and should not be a
substitute for specific advice from a
suitable professional.John Cotton is a
Director of Cotton and Light Ltd a land
survey firm specialising in rural surveys. |
