Freedom camping conditions cause concern
"These regulations are put in place because of matters of health and also fire safety."
Fergus Brown
An unexpected inundation of freedom campers has tourists staying in potentially dangerous environments, the head of the Holiday Parks Association of New Zealand says.
Hundreds of campers have been staying nightly at New Plymouth’s Waiwhakaiho river mouth since the council opened the doors in December allowing people to stay for free at a majority of local authority areas.
Councils around New Zealand are facing similar situations as they try to accommodate the large numbers of people travelling the country on the cheap.
At Waiwhakaiho the vehicles, a mixture of self-contained and nonself-contained, are packed in side by side with little room between them.
Recent changes to the rules limiting where they could park in the area has cut overall numbers but crammed the rest even more closely together.
HAPNZ chief executive Fergus Brown said the conditions freedom campers face across the country were a failing of the country’s duty to look after people who visited.
‘‘We have a duty of care to look after visitors and if you provide a facility for them you would expect that to be safe.’’
Brown said the owners of campgrounds were bound by regulations, including providing a certain number of toilets and facilities, set out in the Heath Act which.
‘‘These regulations are put in place because of matters of health and also fire safety,’’ Brown said.
Local councils enforced the regulations however freedom camping areas were not complying with the same rules imposed on established facilities, such as requiring vehicles to be spaced paced three metres apart.
‘‘That’s for safety reasons and I can’t see any reason why that regulation or stipulation shouldn’t apply in the area where they are camping for free.
‘‘Councils are the people who enforce these regulations at holiday parks, so they surely know about them and if they are there for health and safety and fire safety reasons, why don’t they apply when someone is not paying and council is establishing these free camping areas.’’
But in a written statement New Plymouth District Council spokeswoman Jacqueline Baker said the issues surrounding freedom camping were well known and stemmed from ‘‘permissive legislation’’ - the Freedom Camping Act 2011.
‘‘NPDC is managing the various issues, including enforcing further restrictions at freedom camping hotspots in January,’’ she said.
Bruce Lochore, CEO of the NZ Motor Caravan Association, said freedom camping sites were not bound by the same regulations put on campgrounds.
Lochore said the association, which only allowed certified selfcontained vehicles, operated its own sites around the country where it did enforce a three metre gap between vehicles.
‘‘We think three metres is appropriate for safety reasons.’’