Reserves and Open Spaces

Council currently manages 9,449 hectares of land as open space. This includes city parks, street gardens, sports fields, playgrounds, coastal areas, esplanade reserves, mangrove estuaries, forest remnants, regenerating bush, former quarries, wetlands, pine forests, and cemeteries.

We have developed management plans for the significant reserve areas in the district. For further information abut them, follow the link below.

Reserve Management Plans

Open Space Strategy

Whangarei has a wide variety of open spaces in the city and district which are an integral part of what we identify as Whangarei.

Council approved the Open Space Strategy in 2001, to set the direction for planning and managing open spaces now and into the future.

The full version of the document can be downloaded by following the link below.

Open Space Strategy [1.7mb] Full version.

Freedom camping

The Whangarei district is blessed with an outstanding coastline and natural features which attract visitors year round and a large number of them are campers using tents and campervans.

The district has a number of licensed camping grounds for the use of visitors and we promote their use as they provide a range of facilities. We recommend that visitors with campervans which do not have full containment and campers using tents, stay overnight in these camping grounds.
However, we acknowledge that many visitors like the ability to freedom camp in isolated areas and we support the use of self-contained campervans where visitors can enjoy our scenery while also properly managing their waste.
We ask that freedom campers respect the environment and leave only their ‘footprint in the sand’ by observing the following rules:

• overnight campers (tents) and campervans without liquid waste containment should, wherever possible, stay in licensed camping grounds where toilet facilities are available
• camping is generally not permitted in reserves and other public places, but where this is not possible we ask that travellers stay near public toilets and take all their rubbish away with them
• waste water from campervans must be disposed of in one of three Council approved dump points situated in Whangarei, the Tutukaka coast and at Waipu Cove. These locations are at the wastewater treatment plant on Kioreroa Road in Whangarei City, at the sewer pump station opposite the Ngunguru School in Te Maika Road at the northern end of Ngunguru, and at the toilet block at the south end of Waipu Cove just before Hector Lang Drive
• rubbish must be collected and disposed of properly. It can be deposited in council rubbish bins found at popular car parks around the district. Please carry your rubbish to these disposal points
• leave overnight sites in a clean and tidy state
• do not park in areas which have signs prohibiting camping
• do not park in the vicinity of registered camping grounds
• please control any dogs travelling with you and comply with the dog bylaw
• there are liquor bans in place along the entire coast of the district extending 300 metres inland from the high tide mark. Intoxication will not be tolerated within these areas. Please consume alcohol responsibly
• our remote coastal areas often have gravel (unsealed) roads and cattle may wander onto roadways at night in particular. Please drive cautiously and stay to the left hand side of roadways at all times.

To view a map of toilet facilities in the district and for further information about our bylaws and dog exercise areas, select from the links below.

Public Toilets

Bylaws

Dog Exercise Areas