Freedom camping to be allowed on roads?

John Gillon from John Gillon - Kaipatiki Local Board

Submissions on the Freedom Camping Bylaw have now closed BUT it has just come to my attention that if the bylaw passes as proposed, FREEDOM CAMPING WILL BE ALLOWED ON ALL SUBURBAN ROADS that do not have controls (such as yellow lines, clearways, cycleways, etc).
This raises serious safety considerations - Someone could live inside their vehicle outside your house indefinitely, and council would be powerless to act!
This is a significant change from the current bylaw that prohibits sleeping in public areas, and has NOT been made clear during consultation on the new bylaw, where the focus has instead been on maps of specific parks and reserves.
Councillors need to act to include all roads in the prohibited schedule!

WHY? This is happening because roads are not mentioned in the new bylaw, but they are included in the old North Shore City bylaw that is being replaced (other parts of Auckland are similarly affected).
So when the new bylaw replaces the old one, roads will no longer be off-limits to freedom campers (the "Auckland Council Traffic Bylaw 2015" and "Auckland Transport Bylaw 2012" will not allow enforcement of camping in the road corridor unless they have existing parking restrictions).
Councillors on the Regulatory Committee were given the opportunity to include a "General Rule" that would apply to any public land that wasn't specified in the bylaw. They voted it down, presumably because it would have allowed freedom campers to stay for 2 days on any road, but they did not replace it with a stronger rule.

Photo credit: Victoria Andrews

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