Gates to block freedom camping site

Two gates and a bund will be installed to stop people from staying at a site on the outskirts of Takaka in Golden Bay that has become popular with freedom campers.

Tasman district councillors on Thursday agreed to restrict access to Takaka River at Reilly St, an area that has been occupied by up to 400 people a night this summer.

The gates and bund are due to be installed by the time the restriction takes effect on April 1.

TDC regulatory manager Adrian Humphries told councillors the estimated $6000 cost would come from the Takaka engineering improvements fund.

The move comes after Humphries, mayor Richard Kempthorne, Golden Bay Ward councillor Sue Brown, three members of the Golden Bay Community Board, landowner David Rose and a support person for Rose met on January 23 to discuss the issue and agreed the two gates and bund would be recommended to council.

Humphries told councillors there had been a lot of complaints this year regarding freedom camping at the site, which investigations had discovered belonged to Rose.

‘‘There was a lot of angst, especially on social media,’’ Humphries said. ‘‘Actual complaints to council were few and far between. I think we had five complaints in total and three of those were from the same individual and our investigations on the site showed no major issues with toileting in bushes or dumping of rubbish or unruly conduct but obviously, we’re not down there late at night and we’re not down there every day.’’

The indication from the community to the councillors and the community board was that ‘‘they wanted it looked at and something done’’.

The intention of the gates and bund ‘‘as well as preventing unlawful camping’’ was to remove a safety risk to people camping by the river in times of heavy rain and ‘‘also environmental damage that could be caused by people down there’’.

In response to a question from Golden Bay Ward councillor Paul Sangster, Humphries confirmed the new restriction would not prevent people from camping along the side of Reilly St itself. However, it would stop people accessing the riverbank along with the popular site commonly known as the car park and the wooded area adjoining the car park where some people calling themselves the ‘‘River Tribe’’ had taken up permanent residence.

Sangster, who voted against the motion to bring in the restriction, said he was flabbergasted. ‘‘I just find the whole thing to be abso- lutely ridiculous,’’ he said. ‘‘So we’re going to kick them off one piece of the car park [and] they can park all the way down the road anyway.’’

Sangster said the car park held 40 vehicles and he had pictures showing more than 120 cars in the area.

‘‘So, that means we’ve now chopped it down to 80, whipee-do,’’ he said. ‘‘And so we’ll spread them along in town ... so that they go down towards the playground because that’s what they’ll do.’’

Sangster asked what harm the freedom campers were causing. They were spending money and there wasn’t a litter problem at the site. The councillor said he walked with a friend in the area every second or third day.

‘‘We haven’t found all the turds that are supposed to be there,’’ he said. ‘‘The riverbank is reasonably clean. Yes, they have a fire ... what a crime. All my life we’ve had fires on the beaches without bloody permits. I just think, what is wrong with what they’re doing?’’

Brown said the restriction of access was not about solving the whole problem in one go. The elected members that met in January to discuss the issue ‘‘all felt that this wasn’t a magic panacea to every aspect of the problems – perceived or real – at the end of Reilly St’’.

‘‘This is a way of just making sure that the numbers can’t grow in that area and out on the riverbank,’’ Brown said. ‘‘I think it’s a good part-solution that respects the community request that Tasman District Council deal with the increasing numbers.’’

Cr Peter Canton seconded the motion. ‘‘We’ve been seen as a council to actively promote these people that really don’t want to pay their way,’’ Canton said. ‘‘The best time to kill a monster is when it’s small. We should have killed this off a year ago.’’

The council needed to ‘‘bite the bullet’’ and Canton said he looked forward to a new freedom camping bylaw that was due later this year.

Kempthorne said the council was restricting the access because Rose ‘‘wants us to do it’’.

‘‘This isn’t going to solve the problem of freedom camping; it doesn’t do anything about that and just to be clear, I’m not against freedom camping because I think freedom camping’s simply a part of a visitor-friendly community.’’