Marginal Strips

Marginal strips are strips of land, usually 20 metres wide, which extend along and abut the landward margins of parts of the foreshore and the beds of other water bodies that meet certain minimum size requirements. The strips are created when the Crown disposes of land. The size requirements and other characteristics of the strips are specified in Part IVA of the Conservation Act 1987.

Section 24D(3) of the Conservation Act 1987 requires marginal strips to be shown on "the proper plans". Public concern has created a need to improve the method of recording marginal strips and the Surveyor-General has issued a Ruling, for use by licensed cadastral surveyors when representing movable marginal strips in cadastral survey datasets (CSDs). The Ruling applies from 1 July 2007.

The Ruling does not require movable marginal strips to be depicted on CSDs. However, if a movable marginal strip is depicted on a CSD, it must comply with the requirements of the Ruling. The Ruling will be particularly relevant when Crown-owned land is being prepared for disposal, since Government departments are expected to ask surveyors to identify and define any marginal strips.

Download the Surveyor-General Ruling 2007/1 - (pdf 66KB)

An overview of the process suggested by officials for dealing with marginal strips when preparing Crown-owned land for disposal - (pdf 32KB) is available as a flow chart.

When a marginal strip is to be represented in a CSD, it must be depicted as a parcel. Particular requirements for capturing marginal strip parcels with e-survey are explained on the Landonline website.

The reservation of a marginal strip is dependent on the size of the adjoining water body. To determine whether a marginal strip should be reserved, it is necessary to first determine whether the water body meets the minimum size requirements specified in the Conservation Act 1987. The Department of Conservation is developing guidelines to assist with this.

Marginal strip data that is provided to LINZ in accordance with the Ruling will be spatially captured and integrated into Landonline. The Surveyor-General's requirements for integration are set out in an Interim Standard, for use by LINZ's Customer Services Group.

Download the Interim Standard LINZS10001 - (pdf 64KB)