Dunedin City Council Parks and Recreation Services assistant planner Stephen Hogg said the council’s recent success in securing $140,000 from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment was a welcome boost.
The funds would help the council manage freedom camping during the 2020 – 2021 season, paying for the community ranger programme, increased security patrols for monitoring and enforcement and temporary toilet facilities and servicing.
"Last season, we had some positive results in terms of compliance with the rules, with infringements and complaints down," Mr Hogg said.
Three community rangers will visit freedom campsites this season and will patrol further afield to areas such as Waikouaiti, as well as visiting campsites at Warrington Domain, Ocean View, Brighton Domain and Thomas Burns.
A joint initiative between the council and the Department of Conservation, the rangers will also make sure vehicles stay off beaches.
The recent designation of Thomas Burns car park (behind Dunedin Railway Station) as a permanent freedom camping site under the city’s Camping Control Bylaw, will allow both self-contained and non-self-contained vehicles to camp there.
Last season, Thomas Burns was Dunedin’s most popular site and was successful in relieving the pressure of growing freedom camping numbers at Warrington and Ocean View.
How the 2020-21 season would shape up was up in the air at present, with the Covid-19 pandemic disrupting tourism, Mr Hogg said.
The 2019-2020 season had been tracking to be the largest ever, with more than 6000 freedom camping vehicles counted in February, dropping to almost zero by April due to lockdowns.
The upshot was a net drop in overall freedom camping numbers of 17% from 26,132 in 2018-19 to 21,661 in 2019-20.
"However, we are still seeing Kiwis out there freedom camping, as well as overseas visitors on extended work visas," he said.
"Our rangers are reporting quite a large proportion of foreign visitors around."
While there was expected to be an increase in domestic tourism, which made up 10% of last season’s numbers, it was hard to gauge where the numbers would go, he said.
The freedom camping season began on November 1 and continues until April 30, 2021.
