Christchurch's Deputy Mayor is defending the call to ban freedom camping from the district, after the Prime Minister criticised it as "over the top".
The Christchurch City Council yesterday passed an interim bylaw outlawing the practise.
"We're still very much welcoming the type of campervan which has got onboard facilities - those self-contained campervans are still able to camp," Andrew Turner told Paul Henry on Thursday.
"We were just inundated with large numbers of campers last year that we weren't able to cope with."
The council banned freedom camping in all but five locations last summer, leading to overcrowding at the few spots it was allowed.
The irony is, says Mr Turner, campsites around Christchurch and across Banks Peninsula were sitting "half-empty".
John Key says the ban could put young tourists off coming back to New Zealand.
"We do need to make sure they look after the environment, but banning them completely sounds over the top to me."
Mr Turner says if Mr Key doesn't want them banned, he's welcome to have his say when the council reconsiders the bylaw after summer.
"We will be doing a full review of the bylaw in May next year, and that'll be an opportunity to consider the wider issues."
The new rules come into effect at the start of December.
Newshub.
