Vehicle access to 45 kilometres of coast in Marlborough could be mostly closed off by next summer.
The local council is considering a partial ban to protect wildlife and the environment after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake caused significant seabed uplift.
Making tracks along the Marfells Beach could soon be a thing of the past, as the Marlborough District Council drafts a bylaw to restrict vehicles on the stretch of coastline.
The council says people won't be denied access to the beach for fishing and other recreation.
Vehicles being parked on the seabed is what the council wants to put an end to, and also wants to stop tracks from quad bikes and four-wheel drives being left behind.
The vehicle ban will stretch from the Awatere River mouth, all the way around Cape Campbell and down the east coast of the South Island to the Waima River.
But not everyone is on board. Marlborough Angling and Surf Casting Club president David Miller believes vehicles should still be allowed.
The council will put a bylaw out for consultation in the new year, with the goal of having it in place by next summer. Until then, both vehicles and wildlife will have to share the coast.
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