At its Monday meeting the Dorset council agreed to set an area aside for the free camping and to erect appropriate signage at the Tasman Highway at the Legerwood turnoff and also at Legerwood and Ringarooma.

Councillor Leon Quilliam put forward the notice of motion in an effort to encourage more visitors to Tasmania’s North-East.

“I believe the opportunity is there to enhance tourism in that area, there is a lot to see there, and a lot of tourists these days don't want to go into crowded caravan parks, they just want to put their annex up and enjoy the vista,” he said.

Councillor Quilliam said the exact details, such as time limits for campers, were still to be worked out, but overall it was a way to keep peopel spending money in Dorset.

There will be no water supply at the camping site in the short term.

“But it’s something that we can look at as a council down the track if a lot of people want to camp there,” he said.