Ratepayers subsidise holidays
Freedom camping at the Lumsden railway precinct cost ratepayers almost $50,000 a year, and a hospitality chairman says he has had enough.
Hospitality New Zealand Invercargill accommodation sector chairman Philip Todd said the Southland District Council was ‘‘working as hard as they can to destroy tourism’’.
Todd said Southland ratepayers were subsidising others’ holidays.
‘‘Is that our vision or aspiration for tourism in Southland - people staying out in the wet and the cold?’’
Todd, who also operates Invercargill Top 10 Holiday Park, said camping grounds were missing out.
‘‘We could be employing 10 extra people in camp grounds across the southern region.’’
In 2015, the council made 11 designated camping sites - including Wyndham, Lumsden, Otautau, Winton and Edendale.
Council environmental services group manager Bruce Halligan said it received feedback that it was ‘‘too welcoming’’ to campers.
‘‘Lumsden has had between 60 and 110 vehicles per night over the 2016-2017 summer, which is markedly up from last year,’’ Halligan said.
‘‘Other sites have also shown an increase in freedom campers, for example, Clifden Bridge and Monkey Island’’.
The council has granted resource consents to the Motor Caravan Association to establish its own camp sites at Te Anau, Niagara and Lumsden, Halligan said.
The council has taken a softlysoftly approach to enforcement, and had not prohibited camping in all other areas, he said.
Figures received through the Official Information Act say freedom camping at the Lumsden railway precinct cost almost $50,000 in one year.
Rubbish bin provision and collection from July 1, 2016, to June this year cost $29,214, including the replacement of bins.
The site’s toilet costs for the same year cost $17,683.
New Zealand Motor Caravan Association chief executive Bruce Lochore is concerned the council’s restrictive bylaws sent a message to motorhomers that they were not welcome.
‘‘Southlanders in general are very welcoming to responsible freedom campers,’’ he said.
‘‘The restrictive bylaws and the ranting of camp ground operators tell visitors a different story.’’
Elsewhere, motorhome tourism had experienced ‘‘record growth’’, Lochore said.
‘‘Districts with permissive freedom camping bylaws are reaping the economic benefits of record visitor numbers – Southland is missing out.’’
Lochore said the Freedom Camping intent’’.
The council should have prohibited freedom camping in some areas, rather than restricting it to 11 sites, he said.
‘‘They’ve got it wrong, and what they’ve effectively done is sent a message that freedom camping is now allowed.’’
A bylaw that fitted with the intent of the act would benefit Southland immediately, and the holiday parks too, he said.
Lochore said the association opposed the district council’s decision, and considered taking legal action in 2015 when the bylaw was passed.
It could foresee the negative consequences from the nonpermissive nature of the bylaw, he said.
Two years on, Lochore said those feared consequences had become a reality.
‘‘The cafes, the Four-Square, the petrol station ... that should be benefiting from having motorhome tourism here are all missing out.’’ Act had ‘‘permissive Fred and Gingers owner and manager Natasha King won the peoples choice award at the 2017 Schwarzkopf Professional Hair Expo Awards, held in Sydney on Monday night. The award is the only one open to voting from anyone and every creative category finalist was eligible for the award. King was also a finalist for the Expo New Zealand Hairdresser of the Year category. The title was won by Danny Pato of D&M Hair Design in Ponsonby, Auckland, who also took out the award in 2016.
Flooding in Invercargill store
Fire services were called to assist a ‘‘major water leak’’ in dtr Invercargill, on Dee St yesterday morning. A fire services spokesman said fire crew were at the scene for about 45 minutes using salvage equipment to suck up the water. Branch manager Kelly Baggott said the internal gutters were blocked from the heavy rain and water flooded the building. Some filing cabinets and furniture was damaged but they were lucky the water did not reach the show room, Baggott said. ‘‘It was just a little bit of surface water,’’ he said. The plumbing and electrical were checked out and the business continued to operate where they could, he said.
Fire in Balclutha bed
One person has been treated for smoke inhalation after a house fire in Balclutha. Emergency services were called to the fire at a house on Wilson St about 9.20am yesterday. A fire service spokesman said the fire was situated in bedding and was caused by a cigarette in the bed. The fire was confined to the bedroom and was put out by brigades from Balclutha and Kaitangata, the spokesman said. The cause was not suspicious, he said. A St John spokesman said a woman was taken to a local medical centre by ambulance with moderate injuries.
ORC investigating fish deaths
Otago Regional Council environmental officers collected water samples again yesterday following the recent deaths of brown trout in Mill Creek near Arrowtown. Samples were taken at several points along Mill Creek and yesterday, upstream and downstream of where the dead fish were found several days ago. Two of the dead fish have been sent to the Cawthron Institute in Nelson for autopsy, with results expected in about a fortnight. The samples are being analysed by two laboratories to establish the presence of pesticides or other chemicals and heavy metals, as well as the overall quality of water in the creek and an adjacent wetland. Results from the analysis are expected within a week.
Correction
A story in Saturday’s Southland Times said the Environment Southland biosecurity rates increase of 11.7 per cent was additional to Environment Southland’s general rates hike of 5.9 per cent in 2017-18. The biosecurity rate is separate to the general rate in terms of breakdown, but the biosecurity rate increase is part of the overall rates increase of 5.9 percent, not additional. The error is regretted.