Or are they bringing more business to the town and will they go on to say good things about a welcoming Forster Tuncurry?

Whatever your opinion, the Great Lakes Council wants your thoughts on its free camping trial, which wraps up this Sunday.

Since the week before Christmas, council has trialled not fining or moving on people sleeping in their vehicles.

Council's acting general manager Steve Embry said they wanted to appear welcoming to tourists.

“We know free camping is a trend and we didn’t want to be seen to be overly enforcing,” Mr Embry said.

“We didn’t want to make the town seem unwelcoming so we thought we would take a more lenient approach.”

Mr Embry said the toilets were also left open during the night for people staying in the car park.

While the trial was originally supposed to run until the end of summer, Mr Embry said council had received a strong community reaction so they were wrapping up the trial this Sunday.

So far, the feedback received has been evenly split between positive and negative.

Tony Brennan, who runs the Tuncurry Rockpool Cafe that operates next to the car park, thinks the decision is brave.

“I think the trial is working brilliantly,” Mr Brennan said.

“Someone on council has taken a courageous decision to instigate this trial.”

From what he has seen from his cafe, the campers have treated the area with respect.

Mr Brennan also believes the decision will be good for business, both his and to the wider area.

But the biggest benefit will be the social impact.

“There should be more of this sort of stuff, less rules and more chill,” Mr Brennan said.

“People are using it as a stopover and coming to town. It's about bringing people to the town and making the place seem friendly.”

However, Lani's Holiday Island owner Robyn Kingsmill said the decision was undermining her business.

“This will make trade unfair,” Ms Kingsmill said.

“There are many compliance regulations we have to meet to operate.”

Ms Kingsmill said things like work place health and safety and providing enough taps per person were part of an endless list of compliance issues they had to meet to get their licences.

And while they were booked out from Boxing Day to January 2, for the rest of the year there were always vacancies.

One person, who chose to remain anonymous, said it was difficult enough to get a car park at Tuncurry Rockpool in summer without people sleeping in their vans.

But she said it could work at a different spot.

Another anonymous caller said campers hanging their washing out was an eyesore, and campers peeing in bushes would degrade social values.

When the Tuncurry Rockpool trial expires this Sunday, council will still accept feedback.

After looking at all the feedback, council will then decide whether it is appropriate to allow free camping at Tuncurry Rockpool and look at other places where it could be possible.

Click here to go to council's website and have your say

RV friendly in Bulahdelah

In Bulahdelah, free camping has brought the region nothing but benefits.

Lions of Bulahdelah president Arthur Baker said the lions played a large part in securing the town's RV friendly status last year.

“It's been fantastic for Bulahdelah. Everyone in the town has benefited, hands down,” Mr Baker said.

However, Mr Baker said there was a lot of work meeting the regulations to achieve the RV friendly status, and it only applied to campers who were self sufficient, with their own septic tanks and grey water catches.

“There was all kinds of issues,” he said.

“Dump points had to be considered, which the Lions paid for. We had to make sure parking was right, there was litter and toilet issues. But that has all been taken care of now and it's come together."

READ MORE: Bulahdelah awarded RV friendly status...click here