Christine Garey

The complaint came after 13 vehicles took up Macandrew Bay's five designated freedom camping parks, and other nearby spaces, next to Ralph Ham Park on Thursday night.

Senior Constable Lox Kellas, of Portobello, confirmed the complaint had been received on Friday morning, by which time nine vehicles remained. The complaint was referred to the council.

Council staff spoken to yesterday confirmed the council's security firm, First Security, was alerted, but did not attend immediately.

The complaint came just days after councillors voted to continue a two-year trial of freedom camping at Macandrew Bay, at least until June, while assessing the impact of extra signs and security patrols.

The changes were introduced in response to community concern at the number of freedom campers staying overnight, which sometimes topped 20 vehicles.

Councillors at last week's planning and regulatory committee meeting voted to continue the trial after being reassured the recent changes were helping ease problems and no more than five vehicles were now parking in the area.

However, council parks operations officer Richard Dahlenburg on Friday said numbers had been ''up and down'' since the changes were introduced.

The week before last was a good one, but there were reports of 10 campers parked in the area early last week and 13 on Thursday morning.

Some residents were still getting ''a bit hot under the collar'' when extra vehicles were spotted, but the situation was still improving, he believed.

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Freedom camping trial 'working' despite excesses