Old Covid-19 signs put up in a rush at a popular park in Marlborough have confused walkers looking to exercise.
The Marlborough District Council has to take down signs it made last year which wrongly state walkers are not allowed in the upper Wither Hills. Photo: Morgane Solignac / Stuff via LDR
The Marlborough District Council confirmed on Monday it would take down signs wrongly warning walkers to steer clear of the upper tracks on the Wither Hills Farm Park, in Blenheim, after it fell "victim" to last week's snap lockdown.
Council communications manager Glyn Walters said the council hurried to put signs up over the weekend after the government announced New Zealand would remain in alert level 4 to stop a coronavirus outbreak from spreading.
It wanted to keep residents from mountain biking because bikers were more likely to get into situations where they needed emergency or rescue services, creating opportunities to transmit the highly contagious Delta variant.
Walters said the signs included both the fire and Covid-19 restrictions that were in place during last year's lockdown, when hot temperatures left the park's upper tracks a fire risk.
"This year, we don't have that scenario ... those signs are wrong, and we'll be taking them down sometime [Monday]."
Walters said each of the park's walking paths were open. However, most of its mountain biking network was closed.
Cyclists were only allowed on the park's "lower-risk" trails.
"[The] Marlborough District Council closely follows the government's Covid-19 guidance, which seeks to minimise the risk of injuries resulting in emergency call-outs that compromise our emergency and health services," he said.
Exercise was allowed outdoors under alert level 4, provided trips were kept short, local, and within a household's bubble. The government said people should not do activities where they might need emergency services, including tramping, boating, fishing, swimming, and surfing.
Land Search and Rescue New Zealand (LSAR) Marlborough chair Peter Hamill said volunteers were ready to respond to any emergencies during lockdown, but would "prefer not to".
"We've got systems in place to minimise risks, like having everyone use their own vehicles to travel to an incident, but it makes things slower for us, and it's more costly too."
Peter Hamill asks residents not to get adventurous during lockdown. Photo: LDR / Chloe Ranford
Hamill said volunteers that came into contact with another person during a rescue had to self-isolate, putting those in their personal bubble at risk. Isolating could also come at huge personal cost for volunteers that were self-employed.
"In times like this, we need to be a team of 5 million."
Marlborough area commander Inspector Simon Feltham said last week that officers had issued several residents with warnings after catching them trying to go fishing. He said police had not yet arrested or fined anyone in Marlborough.
Harbourmaster Luke Grogan said his team had received a couple reports of people misbehaving in the Marlborough Sounds, and each time had to evaluate whether to respond.
"We've chosen not to run patrols this time just to protect our teams, given the extra contagiousness of this particular version of coronavirus. We haven't had to mobilise thus far.
"There's always a few that like to assume the restrictions don't apply to them but, in saying that, compliance has been very good this time ... It's great that we don't have to go through the same learning curve as we did last lockdown."
The harbours team would kick into gear if a boat with people onboard became stuck or started sinking.
Restriction breaches could be reported to the council or its harbour's team on 03 520 7400 or to police on 03 578 5279.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.
