The Dunedin City Council is reviewing its freedom camping rules and exploring options for more camp sites and toilets on Otago Peninsula.
Reserves and recreation planning team leader Paulien Leijnse said the aim was to have the overhaul of freedom camping bylaws complete by October.
''We are trying to do it in such a way that it is a positive approach. We really do want them [freedom campers] here, but we want to make sure they are in the right area.''
There was a shortage of low-cost camping sites on the peninsula and the council wanted to see if it could do anything about it.
Staff were gathering information, including surveys of tour operators, tourists and other affected parties.
Ms Leijnse had had ''informal talks'' with the Department of Conservation about camping issues on the peninsula and wider Dunedin area and had also consulted with the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.
Otago Peninsula Community Board deputy chairwoman Christine Garey said a Doc-style campsite on the peninsula was ''the missing link''.
She did not want big, unwelcoming no-camping signs and hoped for a policy that suited everybody.
''I don't want to see our area ruined; I don't want to see resentment built up with local residents ... What I want to see is campers knowing where they can responsibly camp and where we don't want them to.''
The current policy allows self-contained campervans to park in council car parks for up to two days and freedom camping is prohibited everywhere else.
No instant fines had been issued since that was made possible by the Government's legislation on freedom camping last year.
People camping illegally had simply been ''helped'' to understand the rules and that approach had worked with everyone except ''a few tough cookies''.
