Concerns the Macandrew Bay community is being opened up to more freedom camping, and any problems that come with it, are not justified, the Dunedin City Council says.
The council was responding to concerns raised yesterday by Macandrew Bay resident Kelli Lamare and Macandrew Bay Boating Club commodore Tony Macrinowski.
Both told the Otago Daily Times new freedom camping signs installed this month appeared to expand the scope of a contentious trial under way in Macandrew Bay.
The signs, as well as directing vehicles without toilets to five parks next to Ralph Ham Park, now also advertised other areas in Macandrew Bay as available for use by campers in vehicles with their own toilets.
That included four more car parks next to Ralph Ham Park, and other spaces next to the Macandrew Bay Boating Club and the beach reserve car park.
Mrs Lamare said the changes would only encourage freedom camping, which had been increasing in Macandrew Bay since the introduction of the council's freedom camping bylaw in 2011.
''They've now opened the whole bay to freedom camping ... where is their mandate to do that? Why are they trying to upset us?''I feel like they've completely changed the rules,'' she said.
Mr Macrinowski agreed, saying he thought he had an assurance the club's car park - owned by the council - would not be used as a freedom camping stop.
Freedom campers could get in the way of the club's activities, as well as impeding access to rescue boats based there, which were used by Dunedin police and the coastguard for emergencies, he said.
''On Thursday morning, I saw five camper vans parked there,'' he said.
''It just seems to me these people are just making up the rules as they go ... this whole thing is a moving feast.''
Council parks manager Lisa Wheeler disagreed, saying the changes did not expand the scope of the trial, but did ''better reflect'' the council's more relaxed approach to freedom camping.
The council's original 2011 bylaw allowed vehicles with toilets to stay overnight in sealed reserves and other public land, while those without toilets were expected to stay at public camping grounds.
The council eased that restriction with a new ''responsible'' camping policy and bylaw last year.
The new approach designated areas beside public toilets at Macandrew Bay, Warrington and Ocean View for use by freedom campers in vehicles without toilets.
In Macandrew Bay, that meant up to five vehicles without toilets could stop overnight in designated parks beside Ralph Ham Park.
The council had planned to use the Macandrew Bay boating club's car park for those designated spots, but agreed to shift them to Ralph Ham Park after the club's concerns were raised at last year's hearing.
However, Macandrew Bay's beach reserve and boating club car parks remained as available as any other sealed public reserve for use by freedom campers in self-contained vehicles, Mrs Wheeler said yesterday.
Otago Peninsula board chairwoman Christine Garey also believed the latest community concern was about ''perception'', not reality.
Mrs Garey said the signage had been improved as part of a council push - encouraged by the board - to ''effectively'' manage freedom camping in the area.
Last season, vehicles with toilets had been using the spaces set aside for those without their own, and the change aimed to ensure ''we didn't have self-contained vehicles all over the show'', she said.
''What is happening now, and the signage that is in there now, actually better reflects the bylaw than what was there before. I think the issue is around perceived conflicts as opposed to conflicts.''
