End of the road for free camping at the Spit?
The long-running debate surrounding free camping at the Spit on the Gold Coast has taken another twist.
As of this morning, officers from the Gold Coast Water Authority (GCWA) have the power to issue on-the-spot fines of up to $120 in Doug Jennings Park for a range of offences including illegal parking, littering and lighting fires.
Minister for State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Dr Anthony Lynham, said illegal campers could now face fines of up to $1200, if a matter was escalated to court.
“This is waterfront parkland that should be there for everyone to enjoy without being overrun by illegal campers and rubbish,” Dr Lynham said. “This is real progress in our plan to clean-up and rejuvenate this very special part of the Gold Coast.”
Main Roads and Ports Minister, Mark Bailey, told the Gold Coast Bulletin said the fines were the culmination of behind-the-scenes work under way since last year by staff from both departments and the authority.
“GCWA, as the trustee of the park, has had concerns about inappropriate uses of the park including high volume of short-term campers on weekends and school holidays and longer-term camping at other times,” he said. “The authority last year adopted a model by-law containing numerous offences including illegal camping, littering, unauthorised motor vehicle use and having dogs off leads … there are now warning signs on the gates and at key locations in the park.”
Mr Bailey said GCWA had undertaken $1.2 million worth of landscaping and rehabilitation work of areas that have previously been illegally used by 4WD vehicles.
Campers will face fines ranging from $60 for illegal fires to $120 for staying the night on The Spit.
GCWA boss Hal Morris told the Bulletin that four officers had been trained to issue the fines, but doing so would be a last resort.
“What we prefer to do is to stop people doing illegal activity in an area which is an open space for public,” Mr Morrie said.
The authority would hope to warn people before using the last resort of issuing a fine.
We live in the gold coast hinterland and cannot think of any reason to visit such an overpriced crass, sleazy locale. There are so many better places in Oz to spend time and money.
This area has multi million dollar views and has been turned into a slum by squatters living there without the benefit of sanitation, it is a virtual slum full of self entitled people who believe that they have the right to turn it into a garbage tip. With the commonwealth games there in a years time this was always on the cards and I totally agree with it.
I absolutely agree that these inconsiderate folk that dump rubbish and make a mess should be stopped from camping there.———Are self contained Motorhomes allowed to stay there overnight? After all, they leave no mess or shouldn’t do.
Don’t see any sign of litter watchdogs as the place is strewn with papers and other rubbish. Went there on 10th and 11th July and was disgusted with the junk lying around marring such a beautiful area.