Government key to freedom camping fix
It was Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick who highlighted the irony so well for exasperated ratepayers and residents.
She was one of 32 local government leaders from around the country airing concerns on the subject of freedom camping during a meeting with Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis. ‘‘It’s not freedom camping any more,’’ she said afterwards. ‘‘It costs local communities.’’ She’s right, and many people believe it has been a cost unfairly placed on those communities by central government.
Government enacts various policies and legislation that must be enforced around the country, often by local authorities; that means new regimes are created, infrastructure is built, staff are employed, rates rise.
Freedom camping is a good example of an initiative encouraged by central government, enshrined in legislation to maximise the impact of rising tourism, but largely left to local government to sort out. Sometimes at considerable cost. And consequence.
No doubt that would have been hammered home by the local body leaders during their closed-door meeting with the minister. They would have passed on a number of issues raised by their ratepayers and residents: Locals crowded out of popular sites; piles of rubbish and human waste left in the campers’ wake; and a general lack of respect for these spots and surroundings. And they likely would have told Davis, hey, you guys created this mess, how about some help cleaning it up.
They have a fair point on that. The Freedom Camping Act of 2011 was enacted to help the country cope with the expected inundation of travellers during the Rugby World Cup. Its implementation and impact has gone way beyond that single event. It allows people to camp freely in any local authority area, unless prohibited through a bylaw or any other enactment.
But it appears the legislation was put in place with little consideration for the impact on local bodies, infrastructure or the communities they serve. And numbers appear to have taken people by surprise: over the past decade the number of freedom campers has nearly quadrupled to 115,000 annually. That’s left local bodies struggling. Contrary to what many people think, these tourists do spend money, so on one hand this is a good problem to have. Certainly it’s hard to blame the tourists, most of whom are respectful, excited to be in New Zealand, appreciative of the free camping concept and likely to return when older, and with more money. Many have remarked that they expected more basic infrastructure.
If we are going to do this, and we don’t want to kill the tourism ‘‘golden goose’’, as Davis calls it, then there needs to be more support from government than a $14.2 million fund that covers the whole country. Central government needs to revisit the legislation and work with its local body counterparts on a more unified way to enforce its aims. And it shouldn’t place the burden of paying for basic infrastructure on already struggling ratepayers. That is unsustainable. -Stuff