Freedom-camper areas limited

Freedom campers will now have a clear idea as to where they can set up camp thanks to new council bylaws.

Freedom campers now have a sense of where they can and cannot camp in Napier, with the city council amending the bylaws that govern them.

At a meeting yesterday, the Napier City Council planning committee carried amendments that will see more organised camping on Marine Parade.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said the council had made several provisions for self-contained campers and those not self-contained.

He said freedom campers in self-contained vehicles could now use the area north of the ocean spa and those in non-self contained vehicles could use the area 400 metres south of the pump track on the main parade.

"So basically we have ended up with freedom campers who can use the area north of the ocean spa, they can use the area by the ablution block opposite Ellison St," he said.

"But freedom campers who are in non-self contained vehicles are not able to use either of those areas and they can use the area 400 metres south of Ellison St."

The decision follows plans to ban freedom campers from living in cars and vans at a popular Marine Parade reserve. Mr Dalton said this year it would be a good move for the city and its accommodation industry.

Residents and visitors had complained about the mess made by young freedom campers at the reserve, and the council said the site was not a good look at a key tourist "gateway" into the city.

Under the bylaw change, camping in non-self contained vehicles would be restricted to the sites mentioned above.

The change would not affect tourists in certified self-contained motorhomes who would still be able to stay overnight at the reserve near Ocean Spa, and at other reserves in the city.

"The important thing for us to do is differentiate between the genuine motorhome people ... and the people who turn up in cars and vans and have tended to be irresponsible," Mr Dalton said earlier in the year.