Reserve upgrade under way
RECREATION reserve land next to the controversial free camping site at the Upper Clutha’s Red Bridge is being upgraded.
A group of Luggate residents with $10,000 from the Queenstown Lakes District Council is clearing wilding pines to establish a picnic area and frisbee golf course, and they are also improving access to the spot on the Clutha River where a punt once operated.
The council also plans to install a permanent public toilet.
The work is being done next to where selfcontained tourist vans are able to camp free of charge.
A council spokesman said on Wednesday the new developments were ‘‘not aimed at camping’’.
‘‘Instead, they are part of a wider improvement plan for the reserve and will benefit all aspects of the community.
‘‘Certified, selfcontained campers are allowed to park at Red Bridge under the current bylaw, but there are no facilities set up specifically for them in the way there would be at [an overnight camping] hub.’’
The Red Bridge site was a camping ‘‘hub’’ last summer, with portaloos and rubbish skips, but at the start of winter facilities were reduced to one portaloo, and it is now referred to as a camping ‘‘site’’.
The council has been granted $788,000 from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for ‘‘responsible camping initiatives’’ this summer.
A review of the council’s freedom camping bylaw will go out for public consultation this month, and is expected to be completed by December 19.
Luggate resident Jim Bryson, who has monitored use of the Red Bridge hub/site said 10,724 vans, containing about 23,593 tourists, had used it over 300 nights, ‘‘which equates to a lot of waste and rubbish that would be deposited around the district’’.
He considered it ‘‘an incredibly successful development’’.
Commercial camping ground operators have objected to the free site being available to freedom campers.