A new Freedom Camping bylaw will be in place by Labour Weekend.

Council deliberated on submissions to its draft Freedom Camping Bylaw today, and will look to adopt a revised draft bylaw at its meeting on 22 October.

In the past few months we've had a draft Freedom Bylaw out for public consultation. We had over 120 submissions and submitters were given the opportunity to speak to Council at a hearing last month.

At today's deliberations Council did decide on some changes to the proposed draft bylaw that included:

Removing the proposed restriction that would prohibit freedom camping in restricted areas during summer and holiday weekends.

Extending the proposed departure time from 8am to 9am.

Extending the number of nights freedom campers can stay in a restricted area to 2 consecutive nights.

Having designating areas for freedom camping within all restricted areas.

Some changes to proposed areas where freedom camping is prohibited or restricted Council agreed to keep the proposed district-wide restriction that all freedom campers must be certified self-contained.

To see all the summary of submissions and the decisions that council considered see the deliberations decisions report. Earlier this year we had a judicial review of our current Freedom Camping Bylaw sought by the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA). The High Court decision was released late last month and found that our Bylaw is legal, but two clauses in our Public Places Bylaw and Parking Control Bylaw should be revoked. Council formally revoked these today.

Read more from the original source:

New freedom camping bylaw in time for Labour Weekend