Dozens of people have added their views on Ōpōtiki District Council’s new draft Freedom Camping Bylaw, but Group Manager Planning and Regulatory, Gerard McCormack, said that there were still a few days left for final submissions to be added.
“The draft bylaw isn’t so much different to our current situation, but it does specifically mark out areas where freedom camping will be prohibited so that in our most popular places (particularly during peak summer periods) don’t get ‘overflow’ camping and overload the facilities.
“Having it formalised in a bylaw also gives us more authority to move people on after three nights and enforce some of the other rules around washing and waste.
“We have had quite a lot of feedback through the Connect | Hono Mai website which is great news – it means hopefully we have made it clear and fairly easy to understand and it is easy for people to add their views.
“Consultation closes on Friday 14 June so there are just a couple more days for people to jump online or fill out a physical form.
“Councillors will take that feedback on board and make any changes before adopting the bylaw later this year,” Mr McCormack said.
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www.connect.odc.govt.nz
