*If you are looking for the draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2021, click here.*

The Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019 was adopted on Thursday 12 December 2019.

QLDC is proposing a new Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019 to regulate freedom camping in the Queenstown Lakes District, and we want to know what you think about it. This bylaw will replace the QLDC Freedom Camping Control Bylaw 2012.

We're recommending that the Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019 adopts the same approach as the 2012 Bylaw, but that it's drafted in a simpler way. We're also proposing an expansion to areas in which freedom camping is prohibited.

See the below documents for details of this Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019:

• Statement of Proposal
• Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019

Public submissions:

For all public submissions made on the Proposed Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019, click here.

A snapshot of the proposed changes:

1. New drafting of the Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019 will include more simplified language, removing unnecessary repetition of the Freedom Camping Act (FCA), duplication and redundant clauses that deal with matters more effectively regulated elsewhere.
2. The Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019 proposes that areas in which freedom camping is prohibited are expanded to include new and growing residential areas which have developed since 2011. Areas included are Hanley's Farm, Shotover Country, Cardrona, Hāwea and Northlake in Wānaka.
3. The proposal also includes prohibition on two sections of road identified as 'hotspots' for freedom campers where environmental harm has occurred, those being Glenorchy Road between Queenstown and Glenorchy, and Wānaka-Mt Aspiring Road between Wānaka and Glendhu Bay.

Submit your feedback:

Submissions have now closed. To see all public submissions, click here.

Relevant documents:

• Statement of Proposal
• Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019
• Current Freedom Camping Control Bylaw 2012
• Current Freedom Camping Control Bylaw 2012 Maps
• Responsible Camping Strategy 2018

Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019 Maps

• Arrowtown
• Cardrona Valley
• Frankton and Lake Hayes
• Gibbston
• Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
• Lake Hāwea
• Wakatipu Basin
• Wānaka

What happens next?

Following formal submissions on the Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019, feedback will be reviewed and evaluated. Those who submit will have the option of speaking to their submission at hearings in Queenstown and Wānaka in mid-November 2019, before a decision is then made by Council in December 2019 (meeting date to be confirmed).