The site on Taupō Quay was shut last August. Photo / Mike Tweed
Two Whanganui freedom camping sites could be permanently closed, with tweaks planned for others across the district.
Whanganui District Council is proposing a host of changes to its freedom camping bylaw.
Sites at Anzac Parade and Taupō Quay were temporarily closed last December and August respectively, after issues such as property damage, intimidating behaviour, assaults and illicit substance abuse among those living there permanently.
If the bylaw is signed off, the sites will be shut permanently, with camping prohibited.
Other proposals include restricting freedom camping at Moutoa Quay to between 5pm and 8am, increasing the number of campers permitted at Westmere Lake from three to five, and increasing the number allowed at Castlecliff Beach and Jubilee Stadium from 10 to “any”.
However, campers at both sites would need to stay in designated spots.
A council report said there were 518 official customer complaints about freedom camping between December 2021 (when the bylaw was put in place) and May 6 this year.
Anzac Parade and Taupō Quay made up a significant number, and related “to people experiencing homelessness who were staying at freedom camping sites”, it said.
“The behaviour of some users of these sites created safety issues for users of the nearby walkways, reserve and awa, as well as nearby residents, freedom campers and other people experiencing homelessness.”
Homeless people are exempt from freedom camping rules.
At a council meeting this week, council research and policy adviser Tamsin Eggleton said the bylaw was “a tool for managing freedom camping tourists”.
“It cannot be applied to people experiencing homelessness.
“Freedom camping and homelessness are distinct issues that require different management approaches.”
In December 2023, the council scrapped a planned homeless hub at the Taupō Quay site, with funding going towards wraparound support services instead.
The Whanganui People’s Centre has a council contract to help people find accommodation and connect them with agencies such as the Ministry of Social Development.
Eggleton said the entire Whanganui River Road to Pipiriki was a restricted freedom camping site, but council officers did not view that as appropriate.
In the draft bylaw, freedom campers would be channelled to a “very specific spot” (Otumaire), which was council-managed and had a toilet.
Councillor Jenny Duncan said the Castlecliff Beach site was “inundated” and asked what was being done in terms of compliance after hours.
Council regulatory and compliance operations manager Jason Shailer said it was not easy.
“The trick is to try and figure out who is there in the evening and who is still there in the morning, to determine who has been camping overnight.
“It’s definitely not a perfect science.”
Shailer said demarcating parking spaces - “marking off the perimeter” -was another way to manage sites, and had been successful at Springvale Park.
The council report said that, from November 2024 to February this year, more than 1400 freedom campers visited the district “on weekdays alone”.
“Council administered intercept surveys with 65 freedom campers over the summer, and nearly half said they were unlikely to have visited Whanganui if they were not freedom camping,” it said.
“Within Whanganui, most freedom campers are domestic travellers and tend to be over 50 years with an average spend of $120 per person per day.”
Most freedom camping sites in the district have a four-night maximum stay.
Councillor Rob Vinsen asked whether that was being enforced, and whether anyone had been prosecuted for overstaying.
Eggleton said that, since the bylaw was introduced in 2021, there had been 33 infringements, including six for camping longer than four nights.
Each infringement came with a $400 fine, although 13 were written off.
Public consultation on the bylaw runs from June 3 to July 3, with hearings on July 22 and deliberations on August 12.
Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay said the Government’s Freedom Camping Act permitted freedom camping on or in public places across New Zealand.
“What we are doing with this bylaw is saying ‘We want to restrict or prohibit it in these areas’.”
He said he was particularly keen to hear feedback from the community along the Whanganui River Road, because it was a sensitive site from an indigenous, cultural and natural heritage perspective.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.