Hello all

I've scoped out a piece of land for a DH track, but its on private/council land (I'm not too sure which. Will find out later today). Whats the best way to convince a land owner to let us build on his land? It's in currently 'unused' pine forest/scrub.

Any advice will be muchos appreciatos

If it is on ouncil land, there are quite a few people with experience on this.

Such as the Makara peak Supporters.
They have helped a few other projects with their submisisons, so let me know and I can get some stuff together for you

Cheers for your response. I have emailed the council with a google earth image/outline. Hopefully they are nice and quick in replying! I will post here when I hear from them.

Mr_GTR wrote:Cheers for your response. I have emailed the council with a google earth image/outline. Hopefully they are nice and quick in replying! I will post here when I hear from them.

Council web pages usually have GIS maps of all their land and boundaries - should be a 5 min check to find out if its council or not.

if its on private land it might be a bit different. If your planning to provide public access then the landowner may need to carry public liability insurance and/or have health and safety/osh compliance stuff to deal with so unless there is something in it for them might be a tough sell. Good luck though.

I recieved an email from the council (I emailed them with a google earth image with a marked outline of the piece of land):

Good afternoon

Thank you for your query in regard to the owners of the marked area.

The boundary between Hutt City Council and Upper Hutt City Council goes on a right angle through your map.

I can tell you the Upper Hutt City Council owns the majority of land on the Upper Hutt side.

If you go onto Upper Hutt City Councils website and access our aerial maps through Explorer, you will be able to see a more defined map.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance with this matter.

Kind regards
Person X


Ok, so that makes things twice as difficult. 2 councils to deal with...

Sorry to tell ya dood, but councils dealing with other councils adds in the bureaucrat crap factor - that means a multiplier of 16.7682

Mr_GTR wrote:
Ok, so that makes things twice as difficult. 2 councils to deal with...

mebbe not - it may be 'owned' by differetn councils, but 'administered' by just one. the difficulty will be that they imply private ownership of some of the land in their area. Add to this that the 'council' land may be of differing tenure and you may very well have some significant letter writting in your near future :-)

Good Luck.

On the plus side, both councils seem to be VERY supportive of mountainbiking ventures on council land

Where are you looking at building the track?

It would be helpful if you posted either an image or, even better, a Google Earth file with the area marked.

A nice dinner and a bottle of wine.

We're talking the Hutt Valley here - Bourbon, not wine.

OliverBendix wrote:We're talking the Hutt Valley here - Bourbon Woodies, not wine.

Fix0red

E Dogg Capizzle wrote:A nice dinner and a bottle of wine.

I hope all the councilers are of are women or your going to need to find a very good lubricant if that is going to work.

Mr_GTR wrote:I recieved an email from the council (I emailed them with a google earth image with a marked outline of the piece of land):

Good afternoon
Thank you for your query in regard to the owners of the marked area.
The boundary between Hutt City Council and Upper Hutt City Council goes on a right angle through your map.
I can tell you the Upper Hutt City Council owns the majority of land on the Upper Hutt side.
If you go onto Upper Hutt City Councils website and access our aerial maps through Explorer, you will be able to see a more defined map.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance with this matter.
Kind regards
Person X
Ok, so that makes things twice as difficult. 2 councils to deal with...

You should talk to the WTP people, as they have a relationship with at least one of those Councils.
You will then know a few vital things:
1. What the Council Expects of the WTP
2. What the WTP have already arranged and agreed to
3. The details of the planning that you will need for a successful application.

From my short history with the Wellington CC, point 3 ewill include at the very least
- accurate plans of the trail
- to be able to examine the site and have you show them how the plans would work
- how you will organise and pay for anything
- if the Council would end up having to pay for anything
- safety levels, compared to local trails and similar DH trails elsewhere
- a plan justifying why the trails should be made (versus elsewhere, or a different type of trail)
- a plan showing how the trail would add to the conservation and sustainability values of the area
- at least some thought into traffic and the effect on the locals/stakeholders

The next step would be permission to cut a pilot trail, which they could then examine.

Then, onto the build.. and then the riding!

It sound slike a lot of stuff, but if you are being thorough about the whole thing, you will need to be considering all of these things anyway.

Cheers!