Aires in the UK
Comments
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That IS the Forestry Commission. They "regionalised" some time ago but still have branches everywhere.
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Probably but it's variable and the beasties don't work to a timetable. Trees and still water are usually the things to avoid but you might be lucky.
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Down the road from where I live is a village with a lovely little campsite right on the beach.5 minutes stroll into the village with a couple of shops,a nice little fishing harbour and a petrol station.Since scottish sites have been allowed to open I have noticed no more than 6 units on site.(there are probably 30 pitches).Continue along the coast for 2 or 3 miles and all of the grassy laybye and open areas are occupied by motorhomes!!It seems to me that these flycampers are very,very selfish!!!That campsite has lost 3 months worth of trade with no income but still overheads!and these motorhomers would rather park in laybyes and picnic areas than pay a site fee than support one of our local businesses.Not to mention preventing day trippers from parking for a picnic and a stroll on the beach.Day trippers are more likely to use the cafe at the harbour.Just saying!!
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Does this camp site have a name? You could do it a great favour by posting it on here, or on the Small Private Sites post in the UK Sites and Touring section.
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Kings Green caravan park,Port William.Run by the community as is the cafe at the harbour.Lovely location!
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Obviously I have never stayed at the site as it is not far from home,but I pass it weekly on the way to "stock up" in Stranrear.I do visit the cafe at the harbour when out in my midget for a run up the coast.The area,if you do not know it,is very like Cornwall or parts of the Welsh coast,huge volcanic rocks,stony beaches and views to die for (on a sunny day!)A golf course at Monreith that would challenge a mountain goat,and lots of history.Back to the campsite......To my mind it is overly cheap and should be used a lot more!
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Due to the type of ground,it is very well drained!In any event it is flat and only a very stupid person could spin a wheel
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Some councils (Powys) is one where the allow MH parking over night, when there is no charge applicable. No facilities though
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National Trust down here say they are fed up with clearing garbage, food waste, human waste, used toilet paper and burned out disposable barbecues from their car parks - and in one week turned away 140 overnighting campervans from ten of their small remote car parks in west Cornwall .
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Does not stop them when they are flycamping on the grass along our coast road!!!!
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This sort of thing does not endear motor homers to the local population. It would make me rather nervous about leaving it in a car park when on a day visit, in case anyone thinks I am camping and messes about with the van.
From today's telegraph :-
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What a fantastic opportunity for the authorities to take the lead and install facilities to serve the visitors who clearly want to be there and are doubtless bringing money into the area.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz...
oops just woke up and realised its in the backward UK where the only way councils think is to punish people. Reap wot you sow
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What a fantastic opportunity for the authorities to take the lead and install facilities to serve the visitors who clearly want to be there and are doubtless bringing money into the area.
What an even greater oportunity to encourage the use of car parks in prime locations to encourage sustained usage by motorhomes and campers at the detriment of everybody else including locals.
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I think the problem at the moment is just the sheer volume of motorhomes (and caravans) out & about. Ordinarily MHs would be tolerated but there is an extraordinary number in Cornwall just now, far more than I’ve seen at any one time in recent years. Cornwall has been described as ‘Benidorm on steroids’ and that’s spot on. The result is MHs are much more visible than usual, so people notice the associated problems more acutely, and everyone is fighting for a limited amount of space. As they say ....familiarity breeds contempt. All we can hope for is a return to normality some day soon and respect for the local communities and environment.
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You have every right to be nervous, as you would expect all our beach areas are very crowded, but selfish MH/camper van owners are now a real problem in our car parks, fortunately the LC enforcers are clamping down on large MH's that dont fit into a dedicated parking space, rules say you must be able to park within the white lines, and there have been reports of people emptying toilet cassettes in public loo's, better than in the sea i guess.
So, as you say, " This sort of thing does not endear motor homers to the local population" but it is not just the locals, visitors are even more irrate when they see Mh's buying up 2 parking bays, and ignoring big new signs that say "no over night habitation", or driving over the grass verges to avoid the height barriers.
But we have been here before
and not to mention the 12 traveller vans that parked on South Sea Common earlier this week 0 -
I don't altogether have much sympathy for local councils who complain all the time about motorhomes - do something about it! The enlightened councils will recognise the need for parking provision and hopefully do something about it which might even result in them making a bit more money. Also when a council makes a positive decision on such parking they are in a much better position to control misuse of parking elsewhere. For those councils that are not so enlightened then they have to use the powers they have but must also be prepared to enforce such regulations. If they don't want motorhomes parking overnight on local roads or car parks put an enforcement measure in place. If you don't want people filling up water tanks don't make taps accessible. If they don't want vans of any variety in their car parks put up height barriers. All it needs is a bit of joined up strategy. It needn't cost a lot of money. You either welcome or discourage but no point moaning about it.
David
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well clearly David you dont live by the seaside, i do and i can assure you that Gosport and Fareham LC's, who manage the seafront from Gosport to Tichfield, have endeavoured to achieve most of what you suggest, but I have to say that although MH's/campervans are welcomed in some areas they are discouraged in others, hence the height barrier in some car parks but not all, but all their best efforts are thwarted by, yes a minority, but the minority is growing.
Take a look at the attached taken today at Stokes Bay green behind the life boat station at approx 1530 hrs. 3 MH's have gained access to the green, which is reserved for children to play etc, and as it is at or below sea level can be very boggy hence motorised vechicles are prohibited, but these chancers must have cut off the lock and chain from the gate and thought it a good idea to have their own private pitch by the sea. They were obviously also breaking corvid regulations by the very fact of the numbers present. The enforcer was present but was taking some stick so the police had been called.
Not more than 1/4 mile from this area are 8 specially built parking spaces reserved for MH's, today 3 were occupied, why, they are pay and display and it would appear Mh owners dont like to pay, well that is the impression we get as they are never fully used, but we always have MH's parked on grass verges etc ,
As for MH's/campers helping local businesses, IMO they normally come fully stocked with all the provisions they need for their stay and apart from maybe buying an ice cream spend very little else.
The councils do provide taps to provide drinking water to the general public and all have a dog bowl near by to provide for fido, never seen a hose attached but yes have seen a water butt being filled, but that could have been a beach hut owner.
All our car parks have clear signs stating that no overnight human habitation is allowed and this is policed by the enforcer but only until approx 2200 hrs, the council discourage overnight stays because in the past it has been expensive to clean up the mess left by the said campers,
I have to say some of the campers we do get are those that live full time in their vans, who obviously do not like paying for camp sites although we have a very good 24x7x365 site at Stokes Bay.
I think our councils cover most if not more than you suggest, but it would appear this is not good enough.
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Likewise Argyle and Bute and northwards!!Sooo Soooo many motorhomes (Lots of them hired).Bring back total lockdown and sod "human rights"
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I think a major problem is that, many of current MH's have migrated from caravans to MH's for whatever reason and from their caravaning days understand the workings e.g. toilet cassette emptying, grey water etc, but the newbies have never had this level of up-bringing so they think it is perfectly acceptable to empty the toilet cassette in the public loo, of course there are worse places to empty this, which are being practiced but especially in todays corvid environment the last place you should be emptying your loo is in the public toilets
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Made a lot worse this year because many toilets are closed. Sand dunes are best avoided until the autumn storms have done their work.
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I think our councils cover most if not more than you suggest, but it would appear this is not good enough.
Rufs
Clearly it isn't enough. But if the Council (and I suppose residents) want to stop it they need a plan that operates 24/7. If those motorhome shouldn't be parked there why have they not been fined? Here in MK we don't really have a problem with motorhomes but we do have a problem sometimes with travellers because we have a lot of open space. They are always moved on within 24 hours because the police and council work together and a considerable amount of money has been spent to prevent trespass by building ditches and earth mounds to discourage further incursions. It seems to work here.
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Clearly it isn't enough.
It will never be enough for some David. £6 or £7 all day parking by the sea and ignore restrictions. or pay to park for 4 hours at £5/£7 and later pay £15 to £25 for a site for sleeping because overnight camping not allowed on the car park.
I am rapidly approaching 68 years of age. When I was in my mid forties I decided that I would pack in work at 53 and use savings and interest to carry me over until I could claim a works pension at 60. At around mid forties I probably expected to have at least £180k savings by 53. My intention was to downsize to a semi and have the garden as mainly grass and shrubs border. Pay for grass cutting and shrub trimming. In my sustainability calculations I used CMC prices for a single occupant. I did intend to travel in Europe and use other sites. I might well have boon docked on occasion. My intention was to use a home base for a couple of months a year. Would I have taken advantage of car parks on the sea front? Probably on occasion
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In spite of the name change, the Club is still stuck in a rut and in reality still thinks its future lies in providing long stay facilties which are just not required by the motorhome owner. In spite of what others have said, without evidence I might add, the Club is not prospering. As shown by the last set of accounts. membership is declining as well as profitability. Ignoring CV19, this may well be set to continue unless the Club makes more changes to provide for the increasing use of motorhomes and camper vans.
peedee
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They are always moved on within 24 hours because the police and council work together and a considerable amount of money has been spent to prevent trespass by building ditches and earth mounds to discourage further incursions. It seems to work here.
Yup LC do all of this, including concrete posts, but these chancers must have cut the lock of the gate and the height barrier, and believe me they are quite chunky padlocks and chains, and as far as i can tell they were not travellers.
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