Only self-contained freedom campers welcome under proposed New Plymouth District Council bylaw

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

New Plymouth District Council is proposing to introduce a bylaw that bans non self-contained freedom campers from staying in public parking areas overnight.

The beat-up vans and cars of non self-contained freedom campers could soon be banned from overnighting in the prime parking spots in and around New Plymouth.

New Plymouth District Council's planning committee will next week consider recommending a freedom camping bylaw for public consultation that will give the council far greater control over where freedom campers can park and how they behave when they do.

Last summer Chris Wilkes and other surfers asked freedom campers to move on because they were overstaying their welcome at popular surf spots.

The bylaw would clamp down on freedom camping and restrict it to a small number of sites which may only be used by self-contained vehicles that have a toilet and are able to contain their own water waste for up to three days.

This means the non self-contained vans and cars typically used by younger freedom campers, and often the target of complaints from the public, will not be able to overnight in parking spots in the district.

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The number of freedom campers in Taranaki has skyrocketed in recent years.

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* Toilet chained shut to force freedom campers from Taranaki surf spot**

Under the bylaw, those non self-contained campers who do park up in such popular spots as Waiwhakaiho Beach and Kawaroa Park could be instantly fined by the council's freedom camping enforcement officers, who would also have the power to fine any camper not following a number of other rules.

The report warns the proposal to ban non self-contained freedom campers could have a 'negative impact on economic and other benefits to tourism'.

The proposed bylaw comes 10 months after Taranaki was named by Lonely Planet as the second best region in the world to visit and amid a surge in both the numbers of freedom campers visiting the district and complaints received by the council about them.

During the first three months of this year there were 716 freedom campers staying in the New Plymouth District, up from 297 in 2015. These figures come from 13 sites and campers were only counted on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

To July 17 this year the council had received 41 complaints about them. This is almost as much as the 44 they received in 2016, which was more than double the 19 complaints in 2015.

Complaints included illegal camping, campers staying for more than three nights, people defecating under bridges, rubbish left lying around, and washing lines erected between power poles at Kawaroa Park.

Despite the complaints, all the council can do right now is prosecute wayward campers through the courts, which wasn't practicable, the report on the proposed bylaw said.

Large numbers of freedom campers put a strain on public infrastructure, which results in overcrowding, blocking community access to public areas and litter, the report said.

The report on freedom campers comes at a time when the council was considering whether or not to focus more on tourism and had named Destination Taranaki as one of its 10 focus areas.

While it is often assumed freedom campers don't spend much, a report released by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment says freedom campers are actually big spenders, dishing out $4800 during their stay, compared to other tourists who spend an average of $2500.

Environmentalist, surfer, and one time New Plymouth mayoral candidate Chris Wilkes has been vocal about freedom campers ruining surf spots in the region.

Wilkes said unless the council had adequate enforcement any bylaw was pointless.

'Take South Taranaki, they had three camper vehicle rule but no one to enforce it.'

While he would 'definitely' be in support of some kind of regulations around freedom camping, New Plymouth needed to be welcoming to its guests too, he said.

'We don't want to reduce tourist numbers by being anti-social. We need to spend more on infrastructure around tourism. I'd like to see more camping grounds established.'

But it was good to see the council addressing the issue, he said.

The freedom camping bylaw report is also on the agenda for the newly minted iwi committee Te Huinga Taumatua when it meets for the first time on Thursday.