Council says Raglan dog run camping OK

A spokesperson from Waikato District Council says that freedom camping at the Raglan dog run site is OK. Although there is a ‘but’. The area on the corner of Wallis and John streets, known to Raglanites as the dog run corner, has two designations in the District Plan. The verge area closest to the roads is road reserve so WDC bylaws allow camping there. Where the belt of road reserve ends is wetland protection reserve and camping in this reserve is not allowed. However the Council says there is nothing to mark where the road reserve verge ends and the wetland reserve starts.

Looking at the Council map, it seems that most of the campers are illegally using the wetland reserve area rather than the road reserve verge.

Comments on Facebook indicate problems in this area, “46 campers next to the dog run today. It was a challenge to get into the dog run and yes guess what, human excrement to step around…. hmmmm people camping in cars and tents – is this really freedom camping we encourage in Raglan?”

To clarify the legal position, Raglan 23 put this to the Council:

Over the summer, the grass area on the corner of Wallis St and John St Raglan this area has become very popular with Freedom campers.

The grass area appears to be partly the grass verge of the road reserve and a grassed area on the edge of the wetland protection reserve.

While it appears that the bylaw would allow freedom camping along the roadside in Wallis St and James St, it seems odd that freedom camping is being allowed on the grass verge and the wetland reserve.

Please advise council’s position on this. Is this area now allowed for freedom camping?

A Council spokesperson said:

• The road reserve is available for freedom campers to park on and stay over night, as long as they are self contained.

• Freedom campers are not supposed to be camping on reserve land however there is currently nothing to mark the boundary between the road reserve and the wetland reserve.

• We are aware that there are issues in some areas and we are working on resolving these. These areas tend to change so our staff are constantly monitoring and working hard to minimise groups of campers gathering in one area.

• Our staff have been focusing on education and awareness – encouraging people to be a responsible camper, as well as educating people about where they can and can’t camp in the Waikato District.

• We have two staff monitoring freedom camping in our district. They are currently doing this every day (7 days/week).

• We also have a freedom camping ambassador working over the summer period to promote responsible camping – for example, encouraging good behaviour such as making sure they dispose of their rubbish, are respectful to neighbours and are considerate with noise.

• We have been taking enforcement action against anyone that is not self contained.

• The number of freedom campers in our district this year is about the same or slightly less than last year.

• On the whole, the campers are clean and tidy and are using the bins to dispose of their rubbish. Whilst there are always a small number of people who ruin it for everyone else, the majority of campers are doing the right thing and we have not had many problems.

• We are also aware that our new website tool may need some tweaks. We will be working on resolving these issues as soon as possible.