In a win for the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA), a High Court judicial review has found the council’s decision to adopt its 2021 bylaw was invalid.
In the interim decision, Justice Robert Osborne gave the council and NZMCA six weeks to make written submissions on the "appropriate form of relief" the court should provide.
Council chief executive Mike Theelen said in a media statement the decision was "disappointing" because the council had sought to balance national freedom camping law with the "needs and expectations of campers and our local communities" in developing the bylaw.
"We have consulted extensively with our community on this contentious topic and received strong feedback that the inconsiderate actions of so many freedom campers created a very negative experience for locals and other visitors alike."
The council would take time to better understand the judgement before deciding on the next steps for managing camping over the coming summer, Mr Theelen said.
It expected to take about nine months to develop a new bylaw, as part of the usual review process.
A swift update of freedom camping information on the council’s website said the decision meant the bylaw’s restrictions were no longer in force.
It had "paused enforcement" of the bylaw while it waited for the court to decide on how the ruling would take effect.
However, freedom campers "should not assume they can camp on any public land without first checking", and restrictions still applied in many areas.
Infringement fines already issued under the bylaw would not be refunded unless the court ordered the council to do so, the website says.
After a public consultation process in 2021, the council approved a bylaw banning freedom camping across all of urban Queenstown and Wānaka.
It allowed restricted freedom camping at only one site, in Luggate.
At the judicial review hearing in Invercargill in June, NZMCA counsel Phil Page said the council "opened Pandora’s box" by commissioning a consultant’s report that wrongly considered the impacts of freedom camping on neighbouring property owners.
It then "miscued the consultation process" by allowing public submissions on the bylaw to be influenced by matters that were irrelevant under the law, Mr Page said.
In the interim decision, Justice Osborne agreed, saying the banning of freedom camping at all but the Luggate site was tainted by two "irrelevant considerations" — the impacts on the property and amenity values of neighbouring areas — in assessing potential sites.
NZMCA chief executive Bruce Lochore told the Otago Daily Times the council had "jumped the gun" by issuing a press release, because the final outcome of the court’s ruling had yet to be determined.
The NZMCA, which has more than 116,000 members, has also successfully challenged freedom camping bylaws in the Marlborough and Thames-Coromandel district councils.
