Regulations for Freedom Campers

February 5th, 2010
Presented to the Motueka Community Board, submitted here by the editor on behalf of Bob Cooke

I have been involved in discussions with locals in Motueka who have a lot of concerns with small vans and cars camping in a lot of locations where there are no toilet facilities, and I have given the topic a lot of thought and have made up a brochure which I would like the Motueka Community Board and Council to consider.

When freedom camping was first introduced, it was to cater for self-contained vehicles, and that policy for them still exists and I believe is working okay.

My concern is the small vans and cars that young people are living in and parking up for as long as they can get away with, in locations that are not suitable as no toilet facilities are available.

We do have a problem of this and it must be addressed as soon as possible so I will outline the situation in the way I think it can and should be taken care of.

* The Motueka Beach Reserve has the facilities to cater for these travellers.
* It has toilets, water, dishwashing sink, cold showers, rubbish bins and an electric barbecue.
* The picnic car park area should be extended to the rear of the Reserve for overnight stayers.
* A controlled barrier arm should be opened to allow campers to stay in the rear of the Reserve from the middle of October to the end of April each year, with strict conditions as outlined in my drafted Budget Camping Brochure.
* Council would employ a person or company to visit the Reserve each night and issue payment envelopes with registration and other details for campers to make any payment that are required. (Envelopes would be deposited in the payment box by the campers.)
* The employment would be from October to the end of April each year.
* The person or company would be responsible for recording all vehicle registration numbers on a separate sheet to keep a record of the numbers who stay at the camping site.
* The estimated income from campers should make the system self funding.
* The sign at the entrance to the Motueka Beach Reserve - "Camping one night only for self-contained and self-propelled motor vehicles" - must be altered as at the moment it is most confusing.

This is a system I am sure will work and maybe a working model for other councils to have a look at also.

Survey on Freedom Camping
[Posted 29 April 2010]

[During Term 1 of 2010, Motueka High Schools Social Studies class's Issues unit conducted a survey on residents' opinions about freedom camping. The survey questoins can be viewed here. The resulting report is reproduced below, courtesy of teacher Bruce Reid.]

After considering a wide range of possible issues, the class finally decided to investigate freedom camping. We were persuaded by its topicality and the proposal from Bob Cooke to charge a small fee for overnight campers at the Beach Reserve. We invited Phil Bergman, who is charged with responsibility for policing the Tasman District Council's regulations concerning reserves, to explain his experiences with freedom campers. We also heard from Bob Cooke who explained his proposal and his concerns about freedom camping. From our research we drafted a questionnaire and surveyed 383 people in our community.

The results indicated that 80% were aware of what freedom camping was and 40% had done freedom camping at some stage in their lives. 64% could identify locations in our district where freedom camping occurs and the most commonly identified locations were Motueka River, Beach Reserve and under the Motueka River bridge. A surprise was that 35 different locations in the Motueka District were reported including: the Kumaras, the Skateboard park, Motueka Quay, Deck's Reserve and roadsides.

49% believed that freedom camping was a problem for our district with 84% identifying human waste as a significant health risk. 68% believed that freedom camping should not be allowed near motor camps, 52% did not believe it was too expensive for the TDC to collect fees at popular reserves, 58% supported the idea of freedom camping, 76% believed illegal campers should be fined and yet 65% would not report illegal campers to the TDC.

55% supported the use of ratepayers' funds to provide improved facilities such as toilets and clean water for popular reserves. The solutions to the freedom camping issue most supported were providing toilets on the reserves most used by freedom campers, followed closely by fee collection. Only 15% supported a total ban on freedom camping.

70% also supported the proposed new law to require all rental campervans to have a three day minimum capacity for toilet and greywater.

The students believed that the survey indicated there is community support for provision of toilets at popular reserves and a system of fee collection at those reserves similar to Bob Cooke's proposal for the Beach Reserve.

Forum takes firm stand on freedom camping
[Posted 30 April 2010]

Campervan hirers are to be told it is not acceptable to camp anywhere but designated camping areas, the New Zealand Freedom Camping Forum has agreed. People hiring non-self-contained vehicles will be instructed not to freedom camp. They will be directed to designated camping areas, like holiday parks, Department of Conservation (DOC) camp sites and other designated camping spaces.

This item is from a press release from the Tourism Industry Association. Read the full news report here »

Comment by Liz Attree:
[Posted 8th July 2011]

One thing a lot of people seem to be forgetting, it is not by any means only freedom campers in non-green self-containment sticker vans that leave rubbish about, and many do use toilets.

I have several times seen big fully legal campers drive off from parking areas leaving baby nappies, rubbish, fish & chip paper and the like left, obviously put under the camper before driving off. Also people out for the day in cars must be among the worst offenders at both rubbish and toilet matter being 'dumped', even sometimes where there are receptacles nearby.

We need to somehow educate everyone, not make rules that mainly affect those who dump legally. Freedom camping is great, let us not lose it for the few who can't do as they should.

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