Aires in the UK
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I can see two reasons for the provision of aires in the UK. Both are financial reasons.
To bring people into a town area etc to spend their money and add to the local economy. A job for local authorities. Many do make provision at Park and Rides and some, as Biggarmac mentions, by allowing overnight parking, often with a specific charge band typically between 6pm and 8am or similar.
Purely to create income. Up to the private sector if somebody thinks it worthwhile financially.
I can't see otherwise why provision should be made. If motorhomers etc are wanting these facilities in sufficient numbers they could band together as a club and start purchasing or leasing land, acquiring the necessary planning and installing waste and water. The private section obviously does not see it as a viable option or else there are greater returns to be had from other sectors.
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Perhaps the way to go is to try and interest somebody like CampingCarPark.com. Perhaps they would welcome the chance to expand into the UK market. They came from a very small concern to one with several hundred sites in only a few years.
We have only had a MH just over a year and used their sites last Autumn. Some had clearly been local authority run before, possibly with no charge, as evidenced by street view images. CCP had taken them over, put in an automated barrier system and revamped service point and now manage them. I've no idea on the financials with the local authority. At the very least they get increased footfall into their town / village. One we stayed on would be classified a brown field site, on old industrial land by the Rhone.
As to cost, although I thought them good value, they vary between 10 and 13€ a night.
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There are many non LV owners who have no concept of the costs involved before starting off ,,in the choice of most owners leisure interest
The area we live is full of high end priced cars ,but when talking they quite often will say it would be way out of their price range on top of the annual costs to get an LV and do what we do pre covid years
With that in mind i can quite see Corners point of view with the attitude of locals if a cheap? stopover was invisiged for this area
The local cc site is on a knife edge as the ground it is on, is very valuable and would earn the owner far more if sold for redevelopment,and that includes the 500 pitch storage
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I would have no issue with a business financing and setting up such a scheme. Good luck to them.
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The public i happy to see money spent on supporting cyclists by providing bicycle stands. They might be happy for local authorities to make some small income by providing overnight stops for motorhomes using P&R carparks but that is about as far as it goes I suspect
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Biggarmac,
You mention CLs as being "not readily available to visitors from abroad".
Are you aware that such visitors can join CAMC? A number do just that!
The Camping and Caravanning Club also has Certificated Sites similar to CLs for its members which also includes overseas members.
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Not sure what you mean by me mentioning that dealer another time or why that is relevant, does it matter? you mentioned not being able to go away due to the virus every few days at first
Indeed they could but I am not asking them to subsidise my choice of campsite from their taxes, as the OP is asking that is the main point.
I'll repost as you missed it
'Do you think that those using the bus every morning would look at those figures and would think it perfectly OK for their taxes be used to pay for those buying MH to be given cheaper overnight, or even free stays?'
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Not such small income. If it's somewhere folk want to visit. One we used last Autumn next door to a popular tourist attraction cost 22€ a night. It was a car park, same price for cars and MH. There was a variable reduced price up to 8 hours, then it jumped to the nightly rate. It was very well subscribed, if not very well organised. Water and dump facilities were provided but no electric.
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In the FB link, see OP's post above there is a further link to their web site (which is under construction) this contains a map of uk stopovers available at present. This is being updated. Something like this is useful and might bring in more income for cash strapped local councils if undertaken in a positive way. I wouldn't imagine that cheap or free stays as seen in France etc are feasible.
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I observe quite a few Park & Ride schemes are under utilised, even more so at the moment and if home working and online shopping becomes the new normal maybe a trend not reversed? Controlled areas could be set aside at relatively low cost for MH stopovers and provide revenue. I realise that it wouldn’t work for many, but for some it absolutely would. Truro Park & Ride on the east side of the city would be a good example. Vast swathes are empty for much of the time and would be a very attractive, safe location for tourists. There are similar opportunities at Taunton and Exeter, maybe even Bristol at Long Ashton.
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I wouldn't imagine that cheap or free stays as seen in France etc are feasible.
As I mentioned above, some of these are starting to disappear, taken over by CampingCar Park.com. I know for a fact, having talked to folk on site, that two of those we stopped at were free 2 years ago. Now 10 / 12€. Given the financial pressures on the French local authorities, I can see it will be an accelerating trend.
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I would think for the tourist hot spots like York and many of the seaside holiday resorts they would be a gold mine. I wonder what Lytham St Anne's and Canterbury councils viewpoints are of late. Both have had Aires for some years now in fact didn't Canterbury expand theirs recently? Both would hardly continue if it was not worthwhile.
I have seen dedicated parking spaces provided in recent years e.g. Bourton on Water and Skegness.
peedee
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Depends what you mean by relatively low cost. If they provide water / dump facilities, along with recycling and general waste bins, there will be maintenance / emptying costs. I wouldn't like to see them developed without these facilities, as it could result in environmental problems. For that I would expect to pay at least £10 a night. If folk are expecting to get it for less, local authorities just aren't going to be interested,
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Yes, I’d expect all of that plus access controls - £10 per night would be very cheap.
£15 per night for 10 units at, say 60% occupancy, would gross around £30k per year.
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If that's all they think the potential is, I'm not surprised others aren't interested. Clearly if minimum services are provided folk are prepared to pay more. Most of the ones we used in France had plenty of takers, even in late September. When I was checking there availability online, in August they were generally full or only a few spaces left.
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I think what’s required is some honesty. Is it primarily about being able to park up for free/ a couple of £ overnight rather than using a campsite or risking wild camping where wild camping isn’t allowed? Or is it about wanting to park up somewhere again at a low price in a town or city, and having somewhere to offload the grey/black waste?
I can see both reasons might require a solution. There are places that are short of cheap, basic, overnight park up spaces. One that immediately springs to mind is the Hadrians Wall area. We did put a suggestion in to the management at The Sill that they could consider a revenue stream for allowing MHs to overnight in car park for a small fee. (There’s no reason why a car and van couldn’t use it either.) Arrive after 6pm, off by 8am would work, with one of those cassette cleaning machines in the car park.
Providing something in a town or City might be more problematic. Basically, our towns and cities are not nice places at night time. It would need security, the kind that keeps thieves and vandals away. An expensive vehicle, full of expensive items would be like a magnet for a variety of lowlifes and others bent on mischief. You might get away with it in some smaller, nice quiet areas, but then most of these have a CL or CS around already? Or a Britstop? There already.
What sort of towns and Cities are folks wanting to pull up in? I am curious because we know of some nice towns that have something in place, other than the black waste dump.
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What sort of towns and Cities are folks wanting to pull up in? I am curious because we know of some nice towns that have something in place, other than the black waste dump.
Not just large towns and cities. This Aire / car park at Aigue-Mortes. A reasonable sized place, because there is the old and new towns. We never felt insecure. You did pay for position though. 22€. The campervans are taken from the walls. We are parked to the right of the cars in the grassed overspill. Unfortunatey, we weren't allowed in It was protected by a height barrier.
There are plenty of similar places in this country that could do the same.
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I think you possibly meant to add a photo Steve?😁 I agree that some places here feel safe. Helmsley for example, free overnight. Pickering I think is now around £10-12 per night, but that’s with a tap and hook up. We used Stratford LC car park for £2, but it was borderline quiet/ pleasant.
Our dream was to stay overlooking Mounts Bay in Cornwall. We watched avidly down the years, but then the selfish behaviour, unsanitary practices from both overseas and UK users crept in. Along with the abuse. Cornwall CC clamped down hard, and the whole County has banned MHs from council car parks now. Trust had been extended, it was abused, everyone now banned.
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Oh there is potential Steve. The site is alongside river Dee of a pleasant street. I haven't walked that part for at least 10 years or maybe more but when I have, usually on a Sunday, there have probably been 15 or more vans on site. many parked along the river bank edge itself. I suspect that it is even more popular now. It used to be 1.50 if you arrived after 5pm 2 years ago but I think that is now after 6pm. For the £1.50 overnight it used to be depart by 8am but I think it might be 7am now?The cafe also does takeaways and it is literally a 5 minute walk by the river into town or along the Chester walls. £1.50 overnight does sound cheap. I know on my leaving do in Chester one chap slept overnight on the site with his wife in the camper. He also stayed in Chester until after he had taken Lunch in town. I suppose if you have had three or four pints that £6.50 is cheaper than a 12 mile taxi ride even after paying for lunch
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Photo arrived later Steve👍 The wonders of this website😂
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That was always going to be the case. Unfortunately it’s impossible for Cornwall Council to differentiate between genuine, responsible campers who respect the place and others, and the motley army of folks using vans and cars as free accommodation. There’s usually a culture that goes with it involving a fire pit, lots of booze and loud music/screaming/shouting into the wee hours. The debris is obviously left for the rubbish fairy to deal with. Sadly the days of carefree camping close to places like Marazion are long gone.
Proper aires of the kind we see elsewhere would go some way to solving that problem, but they’d have to operate on a commercial basis and public/private partnership.
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I’d like to think that would stop folk overnighting in places like the North Cliffs but..... 😟
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