Motutere Campground has been a popular place for camping for many generations and a site of great cultural significance to local iwi since the 1700s. Photo / NZME
Foreshore camping at Lake Taupō's popular Motutere Bay would be pared back, the local campground expanded inland and public access to the area improved as part of draft changes approved by a committee set up to review the area.
The Motutere Recreation Reserve Management Plan Committee met on July 25 to firm up details for the draft management plan that would be sent out for public consultation over the summer.
Several members of the committee favoured a complete absence of camping along the foreshore.
Owner of the Motutere Bay Top 10 Holiday Park John Tilton, who has a lease to occupy the area until 2038, said he was “shocked” when he saw that option on the agenda and was given a chance to talk to the committee before the meeting.
In the end, the committee unanimously decided to include a compromise option in the draft plan which would see camping removed from the beach to the west of the boat ramp and only tent camping allowed to the east. At present, there is a mix of semi-permanent caravans, campervans and tents all the way along the foreshore.
The committee is a mix of Taupō District Council members and representatives of mana whenua hapū Ngāti Te Rangiita and was set up to guide future plans for the area, consult with the wider public and present options to the council which holds the title to the land.
The committee was asked to provide direction on three main issues including making provision for an expansion of the campground inland of State Highway 1, restricting vehicle access to Ōtaiātoa Bay [previously known as Mission Bay] to the south and the degree of camping and public access that would be allowed on the Motutere Bay foreshore.
On Thursday, Tilton thanked the committee for its support of a new 33-year lease and the possible expansion areas for the campground, which would make up for lost sites on the waterfront.
He said he had tried to find “middle ground” over the future of the waterfront and has made several major concessions including removing the dome tents from the foreshore, agreeing to remove caravans and motorhomes from the foreshore area in any revised plan, and removing camping entirely from the area south of the boat ramp. On request, he had also ordered new signage to stop people wandering into residential areas.
In a letter to the committee, prior to Thursday’s meeting, he said he felt the measures he had taken went a long way to overcoming the main concerns raised during the consultation process.
Consultation on the management plan has been ongoing since December last year but Tilton said he only became aware that removing camping altogether from the foreshore was to be tabled as an option on July 16 - nine days before Thursday’s meeting.
“As lessee of the park the possibility of closing the lakefront camping came as a complete shock to me.”
He said a total loss of foreshore camping would equate to a reduction in park income of about 45%, or $675,000 in the last financial year. It would mean the loss of 11,392 tourists annually to the waterfront section of the park and the loss of more than $1.5 million spent on capital expenditure on waterfront infrastructure over the past seven years.
“I have tried unsuccessfully to have staff arrange [for me] to meet with iwi representatives that are here today so I can understand more clearly the issues they have with camping on the waterfront. It is very disappointing that this did not take place. I have tried to compromise at every turn.”
Tilton is an Australian citizen and bought the lease to the park seven years ago.
He purchased the lease from the council with the approval of the Government’s Overseas Investment Office, subject to a capital commitment of $1.65m.
“The majority of this money was spent on the waterfront. At no stage was it ever suggested, by anyone, that camping on the waterfront would be removed.”
He said the site offered a wonderful location for tourists and was the last remaining campground on the water’s edge of Lake Taupō.
Lawyer and representative for Ngāti Te Rangiita Maia Wikaira also spoke to the committee at Thursday’s meeting and said the hapu had a “strong position” on foreshore camping at Motutere Bay.
“They do consider that the campground activities on the lake shore to date have created a situation where a public space, in a space of immense cultural significance to Ngāti Te Rangiita Te Hapu, has become one that is perceived at least as a private space and so it has created issues with interaction with that space.”
She said the hapu wanted a “mindset shift” so what went out in the draft plan was a proposal to have no camping on the lake shore. “... for them to have a space, where as a hapu they can properly engage in that land-to-wai relationship.”
She said the hapu would prefer to “flip” the discussion so that the starting point for consultation was a discussion about no camping on the lakefront.
Deputy mayor Kevin Taylor said there needed to be flexibility and some give and take on the issue in order to actually make any difference, given the lease on the park did not run out until 2038.
“There is nothing to stop the current lease owner to say ‘nah, nothing changes until 2038′, which doesn’t advance things at all. I’m not saying he will do that ... but that is an option. We need to be quite pragmatic about this.
“I’m really looking forward to the part of this that identifies and tells the story, the significance of this to hapu because that is what we have done in other parts of the rohē and I’m thinking of Rangatira Point and the partnership we are developing with the hapu or trust hapu who own that land.”
The committee then debated whether it should include two options in the draft plan for people to consider - no camping at all or partial camping - but council policy manager Nick Carroll said the purpose of the meeting was to provide clear direction to council staff so they could write a draft management pan.
“It can be very confusing ... for the community if there is no clear direction about where its preference sits. There is nothing to prevent you going out with multiple options but have you really moved anything forward? Until there is a call made around this it is very hard to move the draft forward.”
In the end hapu representative and committee deputy chairwoman Jade Wikaira said they would be happy to move the option of separate day use and tent camping zones on the foreshore to help get the draft plan made up.
“Give and take has certainly happened by Ngāti Te Rangiita in the last decades and longer term.”
She moved the following motion which was passed by unanimous decision.
“Reconfigure the Motutere Bay lakeshore camping lease area to enable separate day use and camping zones, noting that final decision-making on the preferred option will be made following community consultation.”
Other decisions favoured by the committee for the draft plan included restricting vehicle access to Ōtaiātoa Bay and improving walking and cycling access to the rest of that beach.
In a report by council policy advisor Haydee Wood, the bay provided an “unenjoyable swimming experience” because it was shallow, rocky and exposed. The internal access road was in poor condition so drivers used the grassed areas for access, resulting in “environmental degradation”.
“There are no water or wastewater services, which makes providing adequate facilities for public enjoyment difficult. Illegal camping, dumping and offensive behaviour have also been occurring along this bay.”
The committee decided to include an option to “Restrict Vehicle Access to Ōtaiātoa Bay” in the draft management plan. That would mean vehicle access to only a portion of the bay and improvements to cycling and walking tracks and the landscape of the area.
While foreshore camping was likely to be reduced under a new management plan, council-owned areas behind and to the south of the campground were included in the draft management plan as possible areas for camp expansion.
A report by council senior policy advisor Kara Scott included an ecological report that was carried out in July this year which confirmed the overall vegetation within camp expansion area 1 meets the criteria for ‘areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna’ and was also adjacent to a larger Significant Natural Area within the Department of Conservation Motutere Scenic Reserve.
However, there were ways of offsetting the loss of native vegetation and expansion area 1 also included areas of wilding pine trees.
The ecological report recommended offsetting or limiting the removal of vegetation to the large wilding pine species and creating an “understorey bush camping experience”.
The second camp expansion area contained a site previously used as a small landfill, however, it was unclear what hazards were present, given the practice was to burn the rubbish, leaving little chance of contaminants leaching into the soil. More testing would be done but the site was proposed to be only used as a recreational field for the camp.
There were also two sites of cultural significance within the vicinity of the proposed camp expansion areas.
In her report. Scott said if direction was given to include the proposed camp expansion areas, this would require consideration by mana whenua as to the level of tapu of these cultural sites.
The committee agreed to include the two camp expansion areas in the draft management plan subject to conditions.
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