$8.5m for freedom camping
New Plymouth will receive $156,000 of Government funding as part of an $8.5 million initiative to support freedom camping infrastructure.
The funding has been made available in response to recommendations in a report from the Responsible Camping Working Group, which was set up by the Minister for Tourism, Kelvin Davis, in April to look into the issue of freedom camping nationwide.
The money will be used for a range of additional facilities at the Waiwhakaiho River mouth and also a relocatable unit with two toilets and a shower.
The Taranaki-made, selfcontained, solar-powered cubicle will send an alert when its septic system needs emptying.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment funding also covers improvements for managing sewage, rubbish and signs at the Waiwhakaiho River mouth, including ‘Big Belly Bins’ that compress rubbish and send an alert when they need emptying.
On Wednesday morning, there were no freedom campers at Waiwhakaiho and only one parked at Kawaroa car park.
In a statement, New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom said he appreciated tourism minister Davis’ efforts at working with local government on tourism infrastructure.
‘‘We’ll trial one of these portable units at a freedom camping site this year to see how it copes with demand.
‘‘We could even use it for big events or during emergencies.’’
The Working Group’s report said it ‘‘considers that it is important to protect and retain New Zealanders’ rights to access and use our public spaces, but that the current system can be improved so that councils and landowners have more effective tools to manage camping on their land’’.
‘‘We’ll trial one of these portable units at a freedom camping site this year to see how it copes with demand.’’ New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom
It also recommended reviewing the Freedom Camping Act 2011, the administration system for the New Zealand Standard for selfcontainment of motor caravans, and the Camping Grounds Regulations 1985.
The number of international visitors who did some freedom camping in New Zealand rose from 60,000 in the year ended 2015 to around 110,000 in the year ended 2017.
At Wednesday’s NPDC planning committee, members discussed which bylaw proposal to send out for public feedback.
Councillor Murray Chong proposed an amendment to option 5, which would ban nonself contained campers, with campers being gone by 9am, not stay more than 24 hours in one area and a $30,000 budget going towards a $10 discount for nonself contained to be used in the city, but the motion was outvoted.
Other options were moved and lapsed before Holdom moved option 4, which would restrict non-self contained campers to suitable areas near 23 public toilets.
Campers would also be restricted to two nights in a given area in a 30-day period, and freedom camping in tents and other temporary structures would be banned.
‘‘We do want visitors to come here but I think that the key thing is we don’t want a replication of Waiwhakaiho that looked like the 2018 version of Woodstock,’’ Holdom said.
Cr Richard Handley said it would be ‘‘sad’’ to see tent campers banned.
Option 4 was carried, with Chong voting against the motion, and the proposal will go out for public consultation on August 25.