People wanting to use city reserves for events such as boot camps and weddings will be required to book under a new Tauranga City Council policy.

Council's outdoor spaces booking policy, effective from May 15, is intended to improve the city administration's customer service, says parks manager Marie Gordon.

People wanting to use Mount Drury for boot camps and events will now need to book with council.

It means people planning events on the city's passive reserves can find out ahead of the day if there are going to be other parties using the same area, rather than arriving and being disappointed, says Marie.

It also informs council contractors if there is an event on, so they can work around that.

'It's not about a big stick. It's not about revenue gathering, because we don't make any money out of it.

'It's about providing good customer service and it will help people decide where they want to be,” says Marie.

The draft outdoor spaces booking policy went out for public consultation in September 2013. There were 12 submissions mostly from sporting organisations tweaking the details of how the policy applies to its main users, the sports clubs.

Read more about the submissions and sports club's opinion on the policy here.

As well as the playing fields the new policy incorporates booking for passive reserves and the city's outdoor spaces including Mount Drury, Coronation Park, Mount Main Beach, Marine Parade and Pilot Bay.

In Tauranga the policy covers bookings for exhibitions and events on The Strand, Masonic Park and the Aspen Reserve.