'Talk to me direct' about lake access: landowner

The public has the legal right to use an unformed road through Mt Burke Station to access Lake Wanaka's Stevensons Arm.

That is a fact.

But the trick is knowing where to find the actual unformed legal road.

Mt Burke Station owner Tim Burdon has been reprimanded by Queenstown Lakes District Council lawyers for turning away a group of holidaymakers with boats at New Year.

He suggested they take their boats to nearby Dublin Bay instead.

A member of the group, Matthew Sole, of Alexandra, wrote to Mayor Jim Boult explaining what happened when they sought access permission from Mr Burdon.

"We were told `no, we could not have access'.

"We repeated that signage implied access would be granted if permission was sought.

"Again we were declined access."

Mr Sole said walking access maps were consulted and it was noted a legal road provided access to the Lake Wanaka marginal strip.

The group took up the matter with the QLDC whose lawyers wrote to Mr Burdon requesting he "cease preventing the public from passing over the unformed legal road", and threatened "enforcement action".

Mr Burdon said yesterday he recalled being asked for access.

"I get a lot of people, and we get overloaded."

However, Mr Burdon said the group was not seeking access across the unformed public road which was "nowhere near where they were".

"People get to my front gate, can see the lake but there is no connection between the public road and the lake at that point."

Mt Burke Station is at the end of Maungawera Valley Rd, which runs from State Highway 6 just north of Albert Town, down to flat paddocks where the lake is visible.

However, an inspection by the Otago Daily Times failed to locate the actual route of the unformed part of the road.

Mr Burdon agreed it was not clear where the public access was.

"The problem is it goes right out through the middle of a paddock.

"There is no formed road.

"While legally they can utilise it, it isn't sort of practical."

Mr Burdon said the council was "in the wrong" and did not know the "lie of the land".

"There's been quite an ongoing problem, really."

Mr Burdon said it was something that was intended to be "tidied up" during tenure review - which has now been scrapped - and he had tried to tidy it up with the council before, "but I've had very little luck".

A land swap to resolve the access issue was suggested by Mr Burdon in 2015.

"If there's a problem, the council needs to talk to me direct, not by a letter."

He considered the matter a "mountain out of a molehill".