The big winter shut down
I get frustrated at the amount of perfectly good caravan club sites with hard-standing that get closed behind locked gates from the end of October to April. It beggars belief as to why they cannot remain partially open, say with 10 pitches, to accommodate the large amount of motorhomers who wander aimlessly around trying to find decent stopovers. Take Stover for example. Located next to a golf course and adjacent to a country park and a huge shopping complex, yet firmly locked from the end of October until the beginning of April. Motorhomers don't really need heated toilet blocks and showers, just a water supply, somewhere to empty the waste and the most important thing over winter- hard-standing.
As we are now the Caravan & Motorhome shouldn't the club be considering this?
Comments
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Willo, it's not always the club's decision whether to close sites in winter or not. Often it is in the terms of the operating licence that a site can only open at certain times.
I think it unlikely that a site remaining partially open with 10 letting pitches would be financially viable.
PS. I wouldn't call Trago Mills a huge shopping complex. It's more a pile em high and sell em cheap series of market stalls all under one roof. Cribbs Causeway, it's not.
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Are we now just the Motorhome Club ? 😕
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We tour all year round in U.K. Had some lovely Winter breaks, there's always something going on, Christmas Markets, Craft Fairs, a lot of houses and heritage places put on special Christmas events, a lot of the town's and villages are buzzing, there are lots of sports events to take in. And that's before you get to the stunning Winter walks, wildlife spotting etc.....
There are hundreds of really good sites open, often very cheap rates as well. CLs, CS's, small private sites. Take the Club blinkers off and life becomes so much easier.
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I think if you look deeper it could be that the Club has had to agree to winter closure to obtain the initial licensing or planning consent. I am sure if the Club felt it was likely the sites could be filled they would open them but they are often constrained by such requirements.
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If that works elsewhere, what do they do with the travellers. as highlighted by ET above. Don't they have them in other countries?
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Why get hung up about "travellers"? I agrèe this country is too soft on them, tougher laws are required to move them on if it became a problem. However even the existing sites when closed or open are still vulnerable. I recall the Blackpool Cub site was once occupied by undesirables, they were moved on. If it can be done under existing laws I do not sèe it as a problem in the unlikely event of any site being taken over.
peedee
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UKCampsite.co.uk lists about 150 sites open all year here in Cornwall, although two of us who live here are sensibly hoping to fly to Thailand again. The caravan will be in the shed. I see absolutely no attraction in Caravanning here in winter.
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I see clearing up after them, repairing any damage and paying costs as a problem, PD.
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Winter opening may not be permitted by some site's planning conditions - I would not know. What seems evident is that during winter there is less demand and possibly sufficient sites to cater for a reduced demand- not necessarily CC sites.
The CC keep open about 25% of their sites. There are certainly some sites that would hold less appeal for me (and perhaps others) in Winter because of location.
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I am not sure how cost effective it is for the ones they keep open. Our vans have always been serviced in January / February and we have a few days at Clumber after the service before pounding it again. Clumber has midweek discount and the cost is £15.60 for two adults. Generally mid week there are about 15 vans, we have counted as low as 8. In the cold winter months it is likely our van is using a minimum £6 of electricity per day. Plus of course they have to heat the toilet block and reception. On a weekend the cost goes up to £18.80, and the site is often full, however with the winter capacity of about 80 vans this only brings in around £1500, before consumables are taken into account. So by the time they have paid the staff, electricity bill, water bill, liability insurance, gritting, waste disposal, I don't think there will be much profit in it. Up to January 3rd I would imagine it makes more sense, but in January and February it is more about providing a service to members at a break even.
Even if they wanted to keep some sites open, at those like Buxton and Troutbeck which are high up, the gritting and keeping water points unfrozen bill would likely be prohibitive.
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Some years ago ,the cc looked into making membership cards "Smart?"and doing as some suggest, making some smaller sites unstaffed with barriers where the "smart" card could be used for entry, and the site "serviced"by staff from nearby bigger site, but after the upside cheaper to run?? ,the downsides far outweighed it so it was put on hold
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