In August 2005 Jim Sutton, the associate minister for rural affairs, announced the formation of a new Walking Access Consultation Panel. The panel 'would engage in consultations to reach general agreement on what measures could be implemented to improve access to the publicly-owned resources of water and fish'.
In April 2006 the Panel released a discussion document, Outdoor Walking Access: Consultation Document.
My submission to the Panel replied to the thirty-eight numbered questions of the consultation paper. It particularly discussed the functions of the proposed access agency, priorities (ie access-value criteria), and unformed public roads.
May 2006.
A Submission on Outdoor Walking Access: Consultation
Document (596 KB, sixty-three A4 pages).
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Establishing an Agency for Access
The principles for walking access [proposed in the consultation document] … will not be realised without strongly focused leadership. This is especially so in the absence of general access legislation, as options will depend for their effectiveness on leadership, co-operation and persuasion.
From Outdoor Walking Access: Consultation Document, page 13.