That is 90% fewer than during the same month a year earlier, when 629 fines were issued.
If the trend continues, the fines for this summer will be dramatically down on last summer’s, when 1285 fines were issued and 57 complaints about freedom campers received by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
During the 2018-19 summer, more than 1300 fines were issued, 34 vehicles clamped, and 80 complaints received.
Council community services general manager Thunes Cloete said the drop in infringements reflected a similar fall, anecdotally, in freedom camping vehicles coming into the district.
"I’m not happy that our tourist numbers are down, but to have less infringements is a good thing," Dr Cloete said.
"It would be great if it can keep on like that when we get higher numbers again."
While the closed borders made comparison with the previous two summers difficult, he was confident compliance would have improved anyway.
The council, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Department of Conservation and others had "stepped up" on the issue.
The council rolled out the first measures of its "responsible camping" strategy in late 2018.
It was a response to public outcry about a surge in visitors in the 2017-18 summer that led to the overcrowding of camping spots, and people bathing and washing dishes and clothes in lakes and rivers.
The measures included service hubs in Queenstown and Wanaka, council-managed campsites in Luggate and Kingston, "ambassadors" to educate freedom campers, and use of a camping app, CamperMate, to direct travellers to legal camping sites.
The council followed up the strategy in 2019 with a stricter bylaw that bans freedom camping in town centres, residential areas and along key stretches of road.
Dr Cloete said staff had been considering introducing charges this summer for some facilities.
"It could’ve helped us do some market research - what are these guys willing to pay for a basic facility?"
However, the idea was dropped when the impact of Covid-19 became clear, and the council had instead focused on "pushing" freedom campers to commercial campgrounds.
It was not operating service hubs this summer, and was employing fewer ambassadors
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So in reality freedom campers are staying away in doves, due to QLDC non-compliant Freedom Camping Bylaws - combined with the general expense of visiting anyway? Certified self-containment has zero legal status and councils can not give it that status just by writing it into a bylaw. To have legal status, a NZ Standard must have been established with that as a goal, have a regulatory body, Govt minister overseer, and most importantly - be compliant with Bill of Rights. All things NZS;5465 lacks and has never had. Designated Camp Sites as promoted by QLDC, are also non-compliant with the FC Act which allows camping 'anywhere' on public land unless an area is specifically 'prohibited' as per the requirements set out in section 11 - briefly to protect an area, protect access or to protect the health and safety of those visiting the area - these requirements from the FC Act are echoed directly from 'Bill of Rights' - so non-compliance with one means non-compliance with the other. .#RCAi