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Queenstown Lakes District Council plans to introduce a new bylaw to address freedom camping issues.
Local business owners report streets becoming “toilets and rubbish pits” due to campers' behaviour.
Mayor Glyn Lewers urges swift action to manage hotspots and enforce regulations effectively.
The old 2021 bylaw was quashed by the High Court last year after the Motor Caravan Association sought a judicial review.
Queenstown man Rob Greig told the council that in the 40 years he had owned businesses in the area, including Pinewood Lodge, he had never seen this level of bad behaviour from freedom campers.
“Daily, nightly and this is all times of the night, we are getting campervan people who are camping on the street coming into Pinewood, taking showers, pinching stuff out of communal kitchens ... on rubbish day multiple bins go out, and by the time the staff go to collect them, the bins are half full, some of them overflowing with rubbish from the campervans.”
A Queenstown local says businesses are fed up with the rubbish being dumped. Photo / Queenstown Lakes District Council
Queenstown Holiday Park owner Erna Spijkerbosch also addressed councillors during the public forum, and said there were roads all over the district where vehicles parked up outside homes night after night.
“Slowly but surely the streets and the lake benches are becoming toilets and rubbish pits,” she said.
“Strangers are parked on the road outside a home overnight, urinating into the bushes and gardens we all tend to, cleaning their teeth on the gutters, blocking the footpath, hanging their washing out.”
Council staff told the meeting that freedom camping was a growing problem in the Queenstown Lakes area, and enforcement options were limited due to the lack of a bylaw.
Staff said a concerning number of freedom campers were caught breaching national rules between last November and January.
There were 185 infringements issued, most of which were about freedom campers not having a self-contained vehicle.
An abandoned tent. Photo / Queenstown Lakes District Council
Poor behaviour also included rubbish dumping, using the bushes as a toilet and campers blocking paths and carparks with their belongings.
Arthurs Point Community Association chairman Andrew Blackford believed most residents would support stricter enforcement around freedom camping.
He had noticed a definite rise in the number of campers in the area.
“I bike to work via Park St and I think I counted 20 campervans or vans of various descriptions parked up there at 7am this morning.
“They would’ve been there all overnight and there’s no toilet facilities down there, so what are these people doing in the middle of the night if nature calls?
“I think nobody reasonably has any problem with freedom camping but it needs to be done in the right place with the right facilities.”
Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers told the council meeting he thought it was time to start stepping up enforcement.
“I think we’ve really got to start nailing down some of these hotspots that are coming to the community. I think get the bylaw sorted as quickly as you possibly can is my view,” the mayor said.
The council report said national legislation – the Freedom Camping Act – was not likely to be sufficient to manage the adverse effects of freedom camping across a large and isolated district that was highly popular with campers.
The total number of overnight campers over 2024 was 7794, or more than double the number of overnight stays at the next most popular territorial authority area.
“Officers consider that freedom camping presents an important issue to the district’s social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing.
“QLDC has a responsibility to manage freedom camping. Left unmanaged, it is likely that a wide range of adverse effects will be experienced, creating tension and dissatisfaction for residents and visitors alike,” the report said.
New Zealand Motor Caravan Association chief executive Bruce Lochore said he would fully support the council bringing in a new bylaw, as long as it correctly followed the Freedom Camping Act.
- RNZ
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