Kapiti council has received more than 1000 submissions over a bylaw which would allow nude bathing on Kapiti Coast beaches, north of Wellington, with most opposing a change.
Council spokesman Bernie Goedhart told NZPA it had received about 350 written submissions and three petitions with 900 signatures.
There were very few who supported the bylaw, Mr Goedhart said.
Now the council would hear oral submissions from those who had requested them before debating the issue.
Mr Goedhart said he was not sure when a final decision would be made.
Kapiti District Council communications manager Tony Cronin said earlier submissions complaining about nudity on the beach were not relevant to the consultation, and many people had been misguided over what the purpose of the bylaw was.
"Most of them are saying `no, no, no, no, we don't want our beaches naked' and we're saying `well, no, neither do we, but we can't enforce that'," Mr Cronin said last month.
"We're saying that if there's offensive behaviour, the police have to manage that under the summary offences act."
Rather than being legislation to create a nude beach, the bylaw was simply bringing Kapiti in line with the rest of Wellington.
"Every other Wellington local authority has exactly the same stance on nudity on the beaches, and something like 15,000km of beach around New Zealand have the same thing," Mr Cronin said.
"There is nothing to stop you being on the beach naked except that you may offend somebody, in which case the police may be called."
