That was the message from Cromwell ward councillor Nigel McKinlay to the Central Otago District Council this week and Cromwell Community Board chairman and Central Otago deputy mayor Neil Gillespie agreed.
''Lowburn is very popular with campers in self-contained vans and those in non-self contained vans. It's like a city,'' Mr Gillespie said.
When it was busy at the freedom camping spot, there were many comments from the public about the number of vans parked there, he said. Up to 80 vans were there at peak times.
Cr Martin McPherson asked how to fix the problem but Cr Gillespie said it did not need to be ''fixed''.
''Other lakeshore users might deem it to be a problem, though,'' he said.
The matter was raised in a report from Colliers International property manager Rose Quirk, of Queenstown.
Colliers administers the lakeshore on behalf of Land Information New Zealand. Freedom camping is permitted in some sites around the district but there are restrictions on how many nights people can stay.
Ms Quirk said Butchers Drive along the lakeshore at Cromwell had become a ''problem area'' and police were regularly patrolling the area.
''It was a bit of a nightmare there with fruit [picker] kids ... but police moved them on and there's no problem there any more.''
Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper said the area would always be susceptible to ''hot spots''.
''It's annoying to their neighbours and we have to react quickly if we decide we don't want them there.''
Extra signs spelling out the freedom camping policy might help, he said. Ms Quirk said the feedback being collated about freedom camping would highlight whether more complaints had been received than positive feedback.
''Central Otago is becoming known as a camp-friendly destination and people are steering away from Queenstown and coming here,'' she said.
Cr Barrie Wills said the new cycle trails in the area were also ''dragging them in''.
