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The surf club guarding one of the country's most dangerous beaches says it is fighting to save its own life from environmentalists who are attacking its fishing and surfing "perks" and use of a stream and a sandy track as a driveway.
Karekare Surf Life Saving Club is 200m across a black-sand beach from the nearest road.
A locked gate stops vehicles except those of club members, Waitakere Ranges Regional Park rangers and people on official business from driving on the beach.
In April, the Karekare Residents and Ratepayers Trust asked the Auckland Regional Council to resolve the problem of the beach being damaged because of increased and inappropriate vehicle use, and safety issues.
The ARC principal ranger for western parks, Bruce Andrell, said several letters and emails had been received outlining concerns about the number of vehicles on the beach.
Key members of the Karekare community "became embroiled in accusatory positions" over beach access, he said.
The ARC was called upon to clarify the vehicle access agreement, but Mr Andrell found there was nothing in writing.
The club then applied for an access licence. It also served Waitakere Community Board member Rob Taylor with a trespass notice, barring him from the clubhouse. Club president Stephen Pye said Mr Taylor was one of four residents who had complained about the club for years.
Mr Pye said 30 members of the club, of whom 20 were residents, went to a trust meeting last month to discuss the ARC's draft access guidelines.
He said club members believed the trust had avoided consulting all residents, despite the effect the guidelines had on the club's ability to do its work.
The attractions of secure clubhouse parking and off-duty fishing and surfing helped the club to keep a membership of 100 to 120 to guard 50,000 visitors a year.
Club members were not wholly to blame for track damage - other contributors were diggers coming in to bury stranded whales and film crew traffic.
Last week, the ARC parks committee called club officials and Karekare residents to an extraordinary meeting to work out access rules.
Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey, who is a life member of the club, praised the move, saying he was concerned about healing the rift between residents and the club.
"People are alarmed about the turn of events," he said.
"We must find a way that's acceptable to the local people and the club for a long-term tenure of access. Without long-term access this club dies."
Mr Andrell said the ARC had little information on vehicle movements and their effect on the environment and park users.
Granting an interim licence with less contentious controls would give time for monitoring over a year, hesaid.
Trust chairman Robin Binsley asked for a daily limit of six vehicles on the beach.
In support, Waitakere Ranges Protection Society chairman John Edgar said: "We want to see Karekare as a wild and natural place - not a carpark."
He said he opposed access for vehicles that had no part in lifesaving.
He saw vehicles driven on to the beach by "strapping lads" who got out surfboards and ran into the surf.
And allowing members to bring vehicles towing boats for fishing was an unfair perk.
Club member Rebecca Witten-Hannah said it was not physically possible for patrol members to carry all their gear to the clubhouse from the road carpark.
"Little things like that make a difference and I don't think we are asking too much."
Clubhouse director Phil Parks said those who took dinghies to fish were active club patrol members whom he called the "tight five".
"We are not a bunch of rednecks."
The committee decided to grant a 12-month licence with a daily limit of 12 vehicle return trips a day to the clubhouse, including club members' fishing trips.
Parks chairman Sandra Coney said the club was "on notice" to show over the next 12 months that it could be a responsible steward of the environment.
Club patrol chairman Kubi Witten-Hannah said he wanted a five-year access licence but was willing to accept the terms of a trial, monitoring of use and getting views of the community.
"The club has a 70-year unblemished record of community service," he said.
"This is the most important event for our surf club that has come up for many years because access is our lifeline."
