Tauranga's first summer of freedom camping is proving to be a quiet one, with expected problems just not happening, says Tauranga City Council environmental compliance manager John Payne.

Photo: file.

Tauranga's freedom camping bylaw was passed in September last year following a tortuous process that saw several rewrites and a large number of public submissions.

Council's open hand with the freedom camping bylaw was forced by the law of the land, which states freedom camping is to be permitted unless there is specific evidence on why it cannot be permitted in specific locations.

With the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association keeping a close eye on progress, the Tauranga bylaw was initially expanded from five reserves to 27. The expansion has probably helped water down any potential problems, says John.

'There haven't been very many issues with the freedom camping at all, it's been extremely quiet.”

Council's sole full time bylaws officer does regular patrols, generally going where problems are identified, but adding random reserve visits.

'And it terms of freedom camping it's just been so quiet this season.," says John.

'He [the bylaws officer] talks to people, gives them brochures about where they can go, making sure they are self-certified."

But according to John, there are not really any issues.

"It's very hard to determine who got there first, whether they had actually stayed overnight and that sort of thing," says John.

'So it's pretty much an education and information approach at this point. But if something became an issues and it was generating complaints we would have to look at how we approach it, but at the moment it's just really, really good co-operation from everyone.”

Generally the self-contained freedom campers are really good operators, says John.

'Often they will leave a place tidier than when they got there. They make sure all their rubbish is put away they have their own self-containment so they don't use the toilets.

'It's been really good, not too many issues at all.”

'It's been interesting because it was fairly high profile when we did the policy. The government put that freedom camping legislation on everyone and instead of saying you have got to provide some areas, it was the opposite way – ‘you have got to identify every area and analyse it for three or four reasons to see if camping should be there or not'.

'It was quite a big job and a fairly high public profile. Quiet a few people had a lot to say.

'We kind of expected there would be some major problems over the summer period, but there just simply hasn't been.”