Wrong decision

I am a resident in Oakura, and a motorhomer. I wish to make comment about the ridiculous decision the council made on freedom camping recently, and the ill-informed view of councillor Roy Weaver, that owners of self-contained motorhomes are generally rich enough to afford to pay for camp sites.

The majority of motorhomers, whether selfcontained or not, are like us: retired New Zealanders, many living on their fast-diminishing savings, and the Super, and cannot, and will not, pay exorbitant camp fees for a small piece of our country to park on overnight.

New Plymouth had a great reputation as a wonderful place to visit and we never missed an opportunity to encourage people to come, but not any more. With one foul stroke council has destroyed this reputation, and already some traveller websites are cautioning freedom campers from coming here. One in particular mentions that Waiwhakaiho has been closed to freedom camping. This is a poorly thought-out bylaw that is going to cost Taranaki as a whole dearly, and so much more ridiculous because Taranaki and New Plymouth were rated the second best place in the world to visit by Lonely Planet. People like Mr Weaver should stick to their knitting and leave decision making to people who know what they are talking about.

We have been motorhoming now for 20 years, and have met thousands of young overseas freedom campers enjoying our beautiful country, and they are generally great young people who respect our country and leave very little mess behind them. If council took the trouble to look for themselves, they would find that the majority of the mess is left by day trippers, and young locals. Ray Looker, New Plymouth

‘‘New Plymouth had a great reputation . . . but not any more.’’