Freedom camping ban for Lake Hayes, Shotover Delta in Queenstown

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult says his council is set to ban freedom campers from the northern end of Lake Hayes and the Shotover Delta.

Mr Boult said the ban was a response to the significant growth in freedom camping in the district this summer.

"These pressure points are seeing overcrowding, risks to public health due to human waste, and potential damage to our environment with people bathing and washing dishes or clothes in the lakes or rivers," he said today.

The council would expand an existing freedom camping area near the Shotover Bridge, by State Highway 6, as an alternative, and toilet facilities would be built there.

It would also take a harder line in areas where freedom camping was not allowed, such as the Wanaka lakefront, including clamping non-compliant vehicles and turning off free wi-fi overnight.

The red line shows the area proposed under the ban; the green line shows areas currently out of bounds.

Next month, the council would begin consulting the community on a review of its freedom camping bylaw, he said.

Earlier this week, the Otago Daily Times reported that breaking the freedom camping rules in the Queenstown Lakes District resulted in campers being fined $662,800 last year.

Council regulatory manager Lee Webster said 3314 infringement notices were issued, a 23 per cent increase on 2016 (2691 infringement notices).

Information supplied to the ODT showed across the district 17,536 freedom campers were counted during the calendar year at a variety of freedom camping sites.