Pro forma objection to stop road-stopping proposal

Priceless Paper Road: Auckland Transport will be able to do nothing with the few dollars it or the government stands to receive if this paper road was stopped and sold to the adjoining property holder, but as part of the Big Omaha Trail, it is priceless. image Ian Macdonald Big Omaha Trail Trust

An eagle-eyed local and supporter of the plans by the Big Omaha Trail Trust for a Pakiri to Big Omaha Valley trail, spotted, on the Pakiri Hill, an Auckland Transport notice advising that an unformed paper road was to be stopped and sold, and amalgamated with the adjoining property. Big Omaha Trail Trust chairman, the retired Anglican bishop, writer, broadcaster and Pakiri resident John Bluck describes the paper road’s importance:

The paper road in question is currently enjoyed as a stunning scenic walk with unparalleled views out across the Hauraki Gulf. It forms a key element in the Big Omaha Trail from Matakana to Pakiri, for both scenic and practical safety reasons as it reduces the need to use the busy Pakiri Road. By using this paper road, we direct walkers from Rodney Road down to a second paper road adjacent to it, and minimise the use of the highway, which has no footpath.

At a time of burgeoning interest in walk and cycle ways across the Rodney district, and in the midst of several separate trail trusts like our own, seeking how to work together and connect the trail network, to sell off this paper road would be short-sighted and a serious setback to the Big Omaha Trail project.

The first order of business for the steering committee of a new northeastern Rodney trails trust has been to organise the text of a pro forma objection for participating organisations, and individuals, and the Mahurangi Magazine was volunteered to provide an online pro forma à la those deployed so successfully in support of the Mahurangi Coastal Trail.