A Banks Peninsula camping community says the Christchurch City Council ignored 87 per cent of submitters when it decided to end permanent sites at Duvauchelle Holiday Park.

Of 188 people who made submissions on the camp, 164 backed keeping the existing arrangements. Only 10 supported the operational changes option the council has pursued.

“There is no problem,” Andrew Tabb said. “The problem is there were two or three on that committee who think we’re privileged.”

Tabb has been an annual site holder at the Seaview Road holiday park for almost 40 years. He is one of dozens of campers whose caravans and annexes have stood on the reserve land for decades.

The council consulted on the future of annual sites at Duvauchelle and Pigeon Bay between December and January, after identifying that the long term arrangements breach the Reserves Act.

Submitters were given three choices: full compliance with the Act, keeping annual sites as they are, or keeping them with operational changes.

At Duvauchelle, 87 per cent chose the status quo, 5 per cent backed operational changes and 7 per cent wanted full compliance. Every Duvauchelle bach owner who responded supported the status quo, as did the Duvauchelle Reserve Committee.

Despite that, council staff recommended the operational changes option, saying it reflected community feedback.

“It is so wrong for them to come to this decision,” Tabb said.

Tabb was one of 19 submitters who spoke to the Banks Peninsula Community Board at its meeting in Lyttelton on April 20. He said some members had little grasp of what they were deciding.

“Half of them didn’t even know where Duvauchelle was. Half of them didn’t even know what a permanent caravan with an annex was. They were asking questions at the committee: ‘Oh, what’s an annex?’”

Existing annual site holders can now stay until they give up their sites or until 23 September 2036, whichever comes first. Future sites will be allocated through a public ballot, with successful applicants able to stay for three years.

“They’re still going to have permanent caravans over there, on reserve land that you’re only allowed to be on for 28 days, and they’re kicking us off. They’re replacing us like for like,” Tabb said.

He also questioned why some annual site holders at Pigeon Bay Campground, which is also on reserve land, had been treated differently.

“How can they have one judgement for one and not for the other?”

Tabb believed jealousy was behind the push.

“There were probably a couple of green-eyed monsters who thought we had something that they didn’t have.”

The camp has 122 sites, with 58 held as annual sites. Tabb said that left plenty of room for the public.

“It’s never ever full. In the 40 years I’ve been over there, yes, it gets filled up at Christmas time, but the caretakers never fill it up because there’s never enough water.”

Many of the annual site holders are elderly, Tabb said, including some who have lost their partners and still bring their grandchildren and great grandchildren to the bay. Most own boats, which is why they keep caravans on site.

“It’s a community. We all go down the pub, we have a meal, we support the local shop, we go into Akaroa.”

Annual site fees brought in $51,741 at Duvauchelle in the last financial year, about 17 per cent of the camp’s revenue.

“The shop, the pub, all those businesses over there are going to feel it, big time.”

A Christchurch City Council spokesperson said public consultation informed decision-making but did not determine the outcome on its own.

“All feedback was considered alongside council’s responsibilities for managing reserve land under the Reserves Act 1977. The council has statutory responsibilities to provide equitable access to a recreation reserve.”

The community board recommended the option to the council’s chief executive, who made the final decision, the spokesperson said.