The Conservation Department is defending its plan to charge for parking at Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks and other tourist hotspots in National Parks.
DOC is about to trial paid parking in its carpark next to the new Punangairi Visitor Centre in Punakaiki, and at Franz Josef and Aoraki Mt Cook.
Punakaiki café owner Grant Parrett has objected, telling the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board this month that DOC would be effectively charging people to visit a National Park.
But DOC’s senior project manager John Dore said the parking charges would not contravene the National Parks Act.
“The Conservation Act 1987 allows for charging fair and reasonable fees for the use of facilities within conservation areas, which includes DOC car parks, backcountry huts, and campsites.”
Charging for carparks was common practice in National Parks around the world, Dore said.
“It’s considered a practical way for visitors to contribute to the facilities and nature they enjoy… it can also help manage demand and improve safety.”
Parrett said Dolomite Point, the location of the Pancake Rocks and the visitor centre, was a special case.
“It’s on State Highway 6, the Coast Road, and people like to stop off there on a long drive and stretch their legs. But, if you force them to use the DOC carpark, you’re effectively charging them an entry fee to the National Park.”
Until a couple of months ago, there were 12 free car park spaces on the side of the highway heading north, but they had since been removed, Parrett said.
NZTA Waka Kotahi has confirmed the removal of the parks last month was initiated by DOC, as a part of the Dolomite Point redevelopment.
“DOC completed a traffic safety assessment in 2020 which, in conjunction with the development of parking facilities off the state highway, recommended the removal of the on-road state highway parking to improve safety.
“NZTA endorsed the recommendations of this assessment in 2022,” a spokesperson told LDR.
NZTA had assessed the 12 roadside parks in the context of the new visitor centre development, and concluded that removing them would improve safety for all road users, especially pedestrians, a spokesperson said.
It meant fewer people would be crossing the road to get to their cars, giving drivers better visibility of people on the pedestrian crossing between the visitor centre and the Pancake Rocks track, NZTA said.
But Parrett said the speed limit through the area was 40km/h and the roadside parks had not been considered a safety risk in the past.
“Fair enough, remove them if you’re going to offer free parking on the other side but they’re not. It’s pretty poor because those free parks allowed 12 West Coast locals or other New Zealanders to pull up and just go for a walk around the rocks.
“You’re not going to go to the visitor centre every time you pass through.”
Parrett said the issue was fairness rather than safety.
People would not be able to visit the famous Pancake Rocks and blowholes without paying, he said.
“That makes it a quasi-entry fee to a National Park. Sure, if you can manage a 20-minute walk you could find a free park down the road. But you shouldn’t have to. DOC should not have a monopoly on parking,” Parrett said.
NZTA Waka Kotahi said the paid parking trial did “alter the parking environment” in Punakaiki, but the recommendations of the traffic safety assessment did not change because of that.
“If the paid parking trial does contribute to unsafe operating conditions on the state highway, we would expect DOC to address this,” the NZTA spokesperson said.
By Lois Williams, LDR Reporter
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
