Council’s free camping curb
FREE camping at one of Tasmania’s favourite beaches will be regulated and policed as councils around the state reevaluate where motorhomes, caravans and tents should be able to park for no cost.
The Waratah-Wynyard Council will designate camping areas at popular Boat Harbour Beach, with the area next to the sandy strip and food offerings to be out of bounds.
Signs will be put up at the beach outlining areas where public camping is permitted and council officers will patrol the area taking an “educative approach” to enforcement during the initial period of change.
“Police will also respond to complaints, and penalties will be applied if continuing noncompliance occurs,” the council says.
“Public camping at Boat Harbour Beach has been an ongoing cause of concern for council, the local community and day users of the beach for some time.”
The local community was recently asked to provide feedback on the management of public camping and survey results showed overwhelming support for it to continue, but within designated areas and with regulatory controls and enforcement in place.
For many years there have been complaints to the council about campers overcrowding or misusing the area, causing traffic hazards, preventing parking and playground use, and waste management-related issues.
The clampdown comes as the debate over free camping continues to rage in Tasmania.
A Queensland couple stirred up a hornet’s nest earlier this year when they claimed the thousands of free campers who come to Tasmania each year would go elsewhere if they were forced into caravan parks. A report handed down by the Department of Treasury and Finance in February has forced Tasmanian councils to rethink the provision of free camping sites.
It clarifies a directions paper issued in 2012 after the Tasmanian Economic Regulator investigated four complaints lodged by private caravan park operators. It found the Kentish, West Coast, Latrobe and Central Highlands councils had acted unfairly by providing free unpowered caravan and camping sites.
Under the new rules, councils will need to limit public non-powered campsites to no more than 10 per cent of all camping offerings within a 60km radius. If the number goes above that, councils must start charging or prove the free sites provide a public benefit.
The Waratah-Wynyard Council’s Boat Harbour development plan will be available for comment in late May/early June including the Freedom Camping Strategy.