Freedom camping chaos calmed
New rules governing freedom camping appear to have cooled the chaos experienced around the New Plymouth district last summer.
A total of 13, $200 infringement notices were issued during the Christmas and New Year period to campers parked illegally, New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) said. But the rules, brought in last month to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes witnessed the previous summer, had seen some teething troubles.
The council had received complaints from the public about freedom campers at East End, Waiwhakaiho, Lake Rotomanu, Rogan Street and Back Beach, NPDC chief operating officer Kelvin Wright said in an emailed statement. In December an Auckland couple arrived in New Plymouth in their motor home and went to the information centre to see where they could stay and were advised they could use any municipal car park so decided to park up at Kawaroa.
While camping had previously been allowed in the area, a clarification of the Reserves Act 1977 and the council’s Coastal Reserves Management Plan revealed camping was banned at all coastal reserves classed as reserve land. During their one-night stay the couple were visited by two security patrols who both had different interpretations of the rules.
‘‘This incident was just a week after the new rules were introduced,’’ Wright said. ‘‘We apologise for any inconvenience. NPDC is working closely with its contractors to ensure these rules are correctly implemented.’’
In January 2018 an unexpected invasion of dozens of campers left New Plymouth’s Waiwhakaiho river mouth looking more like an overcrowded campground than a scenic reserve. The NPDC introduced tough new rules in December making the city’s most popular freedom camping spot offlimits completely, and across the district spots for non-selfcontained campers were slashed from 54 to 15.
Certified self-contained campers are allowed to stay anywhere as long as the area was not prohibited and they were legally parked. Self-contained vehicles had to display a sticker and other documentation noting they had been certified.