Freedom camping bylaw proposes 158 free sites

Katie Todd, Otago, RNZ Southland Reporter

Queenstown Lakes District Council has devised a new plan to manage freedom campers.

The council intends to set aside 158 carparks across 14 sites for certified self-contained motor vehicles to use for free.

That includes 52 carparks across six sites in Queenstown, 50 carparks at a site in Kingston, 28 carparks at three sites in Wānaka, 15 carparks at a site in Hāwea, and other smaller sites in Arrowtown, Lake Hayes and Gibbston.

Under the draft bylaw - adopted by councillors on Thursday afternoon to go out for public consultation - campers would be limited to stays of two nights within a 30-day period and would not be able to stay in tents or temporary structures.

Freedom camping would be allowed on some rural roads, but it would have to be five metres from the edge of the road, on gravel or sealed surfaces.

The council's old 2021 bylaw was quashed by the High Court last year after the Motor Caravan Association sought a judicial review.

The High Court found that the bylaw was "tainted" because it tried to ban camping based on amenity values like views and noise, which wasn't consistent with the Freedom Camping Act 2011.

Councillor Quentin Smith was the only one around the table on Thursday who did not support the new plan.

He said he was not satisfied the bylaw "equally spread the pain across the district."

While places like Arrowtown only had five freedom camping spots, the Upper Clutha area was bearing a heavier burden, he said.

 

In addition to the council's proposed freedom camping sites, freedom camping was already permitted at the Luggate Red Bridge reserve between Cromwell and Wānaka due to a special Ministerial exemption to the ban on camping in the Reserves Act.

Other councillors also expressed reservations about the plan before voting to put it to the public.

Councillor Esther Whitehead said it was "massively complex", and she felt the public would say the same.

Councillor Craig Ferguson questioned whether the proposal was about freedom camping or "free parking at the expense of residents."

"Let's get it out for the community to have their say," he said.

Councillor Matt Wong queried if the 158 spaces would be enough to meet camper demand - but policy manager Carrie Williams said it was hard to predict what freedom camper numbers would look like in the coming season.

"We're not here to respond to all demands of all freedom camping. We're here to provide an element to the response... to provide for some freedom camping," she said.

Public consultation on the new bylaw will run from 8 July to 8 August, and is meant to come into force before summer.

Separate from the bylaw, the council planned to investigate other options for low-cost and freedom camping in the Queenstown Lakes District as part of its Responsible Camping Strategy.

This summer, in the absence of restrictions, freedom campers arrived in Queenstown in force.

Some locals reported growing frustrations over rubbish, overcrowded carparks, late-night partying and people urinating in bushes.

The council banned overnight parking on two streets where residents claimed that dozens of campervans were staying every night.