Special meeting to discuss South Taranaki freedom camping

An extraordinary meeting of the South Taranaki District Council will be held today at 2.30pm.

The meeting has been called to consider a review of the council's freedom camping bylaw.
The council adopted the bylaw on freedom camping last July.

Since its adoption, the council has received complaints from some residents due to the effects of freedom camping in their communities.

The council reports that there has been an increased number of freedom campers using sites throughout South Taranaki within the first six months of the bylaw's adoption.

Concerns raised included household cooking-type rubbish, food scraps and other rubbish being left in and around council bins, vandalism of signs and campers fouling areas, rather than using toilets.

The council has identified 10 hot spots popular with campers in vans, and collated data and information on the sites into one document, the Significant Site Assessment (SSA).

The SSA assesses each identified site against the criteria set up by the bylaw to determine if freedom camping should be permitted, or should be restricted or prohibited.

The council will today consider approving the release of the Significant Site Assessment to initiate informal discussions with iwi, key stakeholders, and affected members of the public.