The future of freedom camping at Motueka's beach reserve is under threat after problems with campers flouting short-term stay rules, partying loudly, and leaving waste.

The problems have led to a Motueka Community Board recommendation to Tasman District Council staff to close the camping area and look at the future use of the reserve.

Environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said council-contracted control officers had moved freedom campers on when they had been found illegally parked throughout the district this summer. Motueka's beach reserve was the district's only real hot spot, he said.

Residents told the board last week they were disgusted with the actions of the itinerant campers, who stayed for multiple nights, returned shortly after being moved on, partied loudly, and left piles of rubbish and human waste at the site.

Councillor Trevor Norris said he had been monitoring the situation over the past month, and he backed the residents' claims.

Three-quarters of the vehicles parked at the reserve each night were not self-contained, and residents had resorted to parking their vehicles outside their homes each night to keep campers' vans at bay so they could get some sleep.

He said Motueka ratepayers were bearing the cost of cleaning up the mess.

Board member Cliff Satherley said in his report that self-contained campervans were allowed to park at the reserve for two consecutive nights. But freedom campers were ignoring the rules, and he wanted to see the camping area chained off until a solution was found.

"It may be a case of the minority ruining it for the majority, but what is happening down there is not acceptable."

The council's environmental health co-ordinator, Graham Caradus, said he was well aware of the problem and had spoken frequently with the council's control officer, who had visited the site nearly every night during the past week.

Problem campers moved on when asked to, but returned to the site only minutes after the control officer left, he said.

The issue was that while errant campers could have been instantly fined under the council's former bylaw, August 2011's Freedom Camping Act removed that ability. Campers could now only be prosecuted or asked to move on.

Mr Caradus said creating a new bylaw was complex, and councils that had initiated such action were being challenged by the Motor Caravan Association.

The only options were to stop the parties by asking police to enforce the reserve's 24-hour liquor bylaw, and to change the reserve's management plan.

Board members voted to close the camping area of the beach reserve and seek reports on future options for camping at the reserve.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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