Kelvin Davis wary of killing 'golden goose' as mayors complain of freedom camping crisis

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis, left, and Rongotai MP Paul Eagle after Thursday morning's meeting with mayors and other council leaders in Wellington.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis doesn't want to 'kill the golden goose' as local authorities struggle to deal with the rapid rise in the numbers of freedom campers visiting our shores.

Davis chaired a closed-door meeting with 32 local government leaders from around the country in Wellington on Thursday, aimed at finding solutions to problems created by some campers.

The group has agreed to establish a working party within the next month to help tackle the issues, ahead of a Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) symposium in April.

LGNZ president Dave Cull, who is also the mayor of Dunedin, acknowledged problems associated with freedom campers had reached 'crisis point' in some areas.

* Freedom camping: 'We all need to step up'

* Lumsden: divided over freedom campers

A Takaka car park was inundated with freedom campers last summer.

* Minister Kelvin Davis rounds up mayors

* Freedom camping in NZ: 'Deep bush is where it's at'**

The volume of freedom campers is putting pressure on some small communities, such as Akaroa.

'It's clear the areas like Queenstown Lakes, Mackenzie, Rotorua – places where there's obviously a lot of tourists – the sheer volume of so-called freedom camping is just putting a strain on the environment and on the financial resources of ratepayers.'

The Freedom Camping Act of 2011 was introduced to help cater for the hordes of tourists expected for the Rugby World Cup that year, allowing people to camp freely in any local authority area.

Local Government NZ president Dave Cull, centre, says he is encouraged by Thursday's decision to set up a working group to tackle freedom camping issues.

However, some councils have been forced to introduce bylaws to prevent some popular tourist areas from being overrun by campers sleeping in cars and vans.

'What has come to pass is exactly what we argued – that just issuing penalties isn't an answer here to managing freedom camping,' Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said.

'It's not freedom camping any more. It costs local communities.'

Further south, the sentiment was about being on the same page.

'There's clearly different perspectives from different parts of the country … One of the overarching messages which came out of this [meeting] was the need for consistency in some areas,' Cull said.

'There still needs to be a recognition that local communities need to have control, for instance, about where they will allow people to camp responsibly and where they won't. That needs to reside locally.'

Among the litany of problems were litter, noise, the use of water fountains to bathe and clean clothes in, while some campers had resorted to relieving themselves in public places.

Questions have been raised about whether basic toilet facilities and rubbish bins should be provided, and whether more designated freedom camping areas were needed.

But whether the costs of that added infrastructure would be passed to ratepayers, or whether central Government would dip further into its own pockets, remained to be seen.

'We do have the Tourism Infrastructure Fund – it is a limited fund,' Davis said.

Announced in December, the $14.2 million fund was being used for tourism infrastructure projects and cycle trails, with another $10m in the pipeline.

Freedom campers accounted for about $526m of spending each year, with the average camper spending around $4700, while other tourists spent only about $3200.

Annual freedom camper numbers over the past decade have skyrocketed from 30,000 to 115,000.

'Everyone recognises that there isn't a money tree to fall back on, but we'll traverse all these areas and make sure we get the best bang for our buck with the funding that we do have.

'There will never, ever be enough money to fund everything that everyone wants, so we have to make do with what we've got,' Davis said.

The decision to set up a working group has been criticised by National's tourism spokeswoman, Jacqui Dean.

Instead, she was talking up Anne Tolley's private member's bill which, if drawn from the ballot and passed into law, would ban freedom camping more than 200 metres from public toilet facilities.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said the organisation was looking forward to being involved in the working party.

'The issues are complex. Some regions welcome freedom campers and would love more, while others want to restrict the activity,' Roberts said.

'While every community needs to determine what works best for them, there is a role for Government to play in providing some national guidance.'