A hearing panel, comprising councillors Gavin Bartlett (chair), Lisa Guy and Cody Tucker heard from submitters on the 2025 bylaw on Tuesday and Wednesday, before deliberating yesterday afternoon.
The council’s previous 2021 Freedom Camping Bylaw was quashed by the High Court last year after a judicial review found it unlawfully restricted camping, based on amenity values like views and noise.
A total of 382 submissions were received on the new bylaw, five after the consultation period closed — 69 submitters asked to address the panel.
Included were representatives from the horticulture, viticulture and agriculture industries who needed to safely access their land for work and were concerned the council was creating risks by indicating freedom camping options existed on rural roads — under the draft bylaw, freedom camping is permitted on "most" rural roads, but campers must park at least 5m from the road edge, on gravel or sealed surfaces.
Cr Guy said she, too, was concerned if most of the rural roads were unsuitable for freedom camping, the council was at risk of creating an "unenforceable" bylaw, by design, which was still at risk of legal challenge.
However, Cr Bartlett said he believed there had potentially been confusing communication from the council.
"I think what’s happened is the submitters that we’ve had have seen the maps and all these roads are coloured.
"It looks like it’s saying, ‘there are camping spaces there, you just have to find one, and they’ll be easy to find, because they’re all over the place’.
"Whereas what we’ve heard is that there aren’t many places that do meet all the restrictions."
He said the council was looking to highlight all the district’s rural roads under the Act so it could apply restrictions which people had to meet to camp there.
"[And] it doesn’t leave too many places to do it.
"I think that’s what’s worrying people — [they think] the roads highlighted mean it’s open-slather for camping.
"I think the way it’s set up ... is achieving what we’re wanting to achieve ... I just think it’s the way people are actually seeing it, and not connecting the restrictions with the roads."
The panel also recommended 17 designated carparks for certified self-contained vehicles, with toilets and greywater systems, were removed from the initial list of 158.
In Wanaka, it was recommended two spaces be removed from both Allenby Pl and Beacon Pt Rd, leaving three, while five are recommended for removal at Camp Hill, taking the total number there to 10.
Meanwhile, submitters also raised concerns about enforcement — the panel was told the cost of enforcement was between $160,000 and $190,000 per annum, while infringements totalled about $500,000, of which there was a 65% ($320,000) recovery rate.
Freedom camping ambassadors cost another $330,000 — that included wages, vehicles, communication systems, printed resources and digital advertising.
The panel’s recommendations on the draft bylaw will go to full council for consideration.
