Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult announces freedom camping ban from two popular spots

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Freedom campers hang their washing on a sign that stating 'Don't hang your washing' in the Lake Hayes area. The photo is taken by Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult on his regular run around the lake.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult has announced a ban on freedom camping from two popular spots, to stop 'careless' travellers using the district as 'a giant toilet'.

Boult on Thursday called a public briefing about the council's plans to tackle the district's freedom camping issues.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult gives a press conference announcing a ban on freedom camping at two popular Queenstown reserves.

He said freedom camping would be banned at the north end of Lake Hayes and at the Shotover Delta.

The bans would be in place 'within weeks', he said.

The current freedom camping area at the Shotover Bridge, near Queenstown, in blue, and the proposed expanded area in red.

A district-wide freedom camping ban was 'not off the table'.

The council was planning to expand the 'less prominent' site at the Shotover Bridge and provide facilities there as an alternative location.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult says the bans should be in place 'within weeks' - and a district-wide ban was 'not off the table'.

The move comes after a petition for Boult to take action against careless campers gained almost 6000 supporters in five days.

An increase in cases of defecating and littering this summer enraged locals.

More than 20 campervans per night gather at Shotover Bridge in Queenstown.

The number of infringement notices issued to freedom campers by the Queenstown Lakes District Council increased from 2691 in 2016 to 3314 last year.

The Lake Hayes reserve was the most popular camping spot in Queenstown, with 147 campervans parked there one recent night.

Locals stopped going to Lake Hayes reserve as freedom campers overcrowded and disrespected it.

Boult said people flouting the bans could expect to be clamped and fined.

*Locals fire up as freedom campers abuse Queenstown reserves**

It was 'unfortunate' to take the measures, but locals' interests were the priority and the 'amount of human waste spread around the place' was a health and safety issue, he said.

Boult would meet with senior ministers next Thursday to discuss a possible visitor levy and getting government funding for more public toilets in the area.

Queenstown Lakes had 16,000 ratepayers, yet millions visited each year. There was no way ratepayers could fund what was needed to cater for the number of tourists.

'We can't watch it being overused and spoiled,' Boult said.

The council would create a new freedom camping strategy over the next six months.

The ban was happening because of the 'actions of a few' – both careless campers and careless day trippers, Boult said.

'If you don't want to pay for a place to camp, why should you get a prime spot?'

Freedom campers causing a mess was a 'national problem', but Queenstown was 'feeling the heat of it far more than anywhere else around the country' simply because it was a popular tourist destination.

'People want to come here,' Boult said.

'NATIONWIDE ISSUE'

The petition's creator, Queenstown resident of 20 years Justine Farquharson, earlier she reached a tipping point with campers disrespecting the resort this summer.

Locals no longer visited their favourite spots at Lake Hayes, Shotover River and Wye Creek reserves which had human faeces and rubbish left from campers, she said.

'What I find sad is people who ride around that lake [Lake Hayes], who walk it, dog owners – everybody – has stopped going because there's toilet paper underneath the trees,' she said.

Freedom campers and careless campers were different, Farquharson said.

Freedom campers had a toilet, a shower, a waste water system and a kitchen and were 'mindful and respectful'.

'There's another breed which is 'could not care less' campers. They could not care less about our environment and our community.

'That group comes with a whole lot more negatives that they do positives,' Farquharson said.

People from Dunedin, Raglan, Christchurch and Queenstown signed the petition.

Mayor of the neighbouring Central Otago District Tim Cadogan suggested a hot line for 'undesirable' campers.

He was advocating for an 0800 number to be instituted similar to a *555 number for poor drivers, but in this case for poor campers, so responsible campers could safely report their 'less desirable counterparts'.