graham Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 In our local paper today Torridge District Council have anounced that they are are changing regulations to allow overnight parking for motorhomes in specific car parks in Bideford, Appledore, Westward Ho, Holsworthy, and Torrington. This is in addition to overnighting currently allowed in Barnstaple and Ilfracombe. The charge will be £5 from 18.00 to 10.00 (max 2 nights). The council say ' We hope this will bring extra business into the area because people in motorhomes are usually reasonably well off.' Enforcement officers will be checking for abuse and anyone causing damage will be asked to leave. I doubt if any facilities will be provided. This is due to start next year (March I think) but if anyone wants any details and info on specific car parks I suggest they contact Torridge Council. At least it is a step in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I'm not a big fan of aires and the equivalent, even in UK, but this sounds like a positive attitude for a council to take, and Devon would be very attractive as an area to explore; thanks for the info Graham regards alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4cls Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Torridge district council enforcment officers in Ilfracombe DONT allow parking of motorhomes in their carparks wether or not you want to stay over night or not. There was a letter from a motor home owner back in the summer this year in either the North Devon Gazette or the N/D Journal who says he was fined for allowing his motorhome to be over the white box, I believe he was told you cannot park here. Asda in Bideford dont like you parking in their car park, even if you want to shop there! The statement by Torridge D/C is worth watching, cos I live here and I cannot see it happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I don't think that the Council have had a sudden change of heart. It sounds very much like they are repeating the words of someone who has taken the time to educate someone on the Council and they are repeating his/her words. A maximum 48 hour stay ? is that coincidence or not ? Whenever someone mentions a move to have a system of Aires in the UK, there is a wringing of hands and moaning from the motorhomers who say it will never happen. *-) Luckily there are still a few of us with a bit of backbone. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryW Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 In the end it's up to us all to set good examples and support such moves. I have no doubt that within the the Council there are a lot of negative heads who are wishing for it to fail so they can so "told you so". Lets prove them wrong and lets not forget that old saying "from little acorns......". I am certainly going to look again at my plans for next year to see if I can take advantage of this move and spend some of my money in my birth county. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polo Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 WE have parked in Bideford several times with no problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 4cls - 2012-11-29 8:08 PM. Asda in Bideford dont like you parking in their car park, even if you want to shop there! .There is only one answer to that keep your money in your pocket and ring and tell Asda why, no parking no shopping no income nice way to run a business !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 I noticed this being mentioned on another forum and it sounds like a positive move.. Although I suppose without knowing what the "pre-6pm" charges will be/are,it's a bit difficult to judge the "overall" cost(s).. Certainly a good move though...Let's hope it benefits MHers and locals alike.. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 graham - 2012-11-29 7:33 PM In our local paper today Torridge District Council have anounced that they are are changing regulations to allow overnight parking for motorhomes in specific car parks in Bideford, Appledore, Westward Ho, Holsworthy, and Torrington. This is in addition to overnighting currently allowed in Barnstaple and Ilfracombe. The charge will be £5 from 18.00 to 10.00 (max 2 nights). The council say ' We hope this will bring extra business into the area because people in motorhomes are usually reasonably well off.' Enforcement officers will be checking for abuse and anyone causing damage will be asked to leave. I doubt if any facilities will be provided. This is due to start next year (March I think) but if anyone wants any details and info on specific car parks I suggest they contact Torridge Council. At least it is a step in the right direction. This is the link to the article :- http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/Motor-homes-stay-car-parks/story-17458851-detail/story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky7 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Unfortunately, campers are no longer allowed to overnight in the car park at Barnstaple. I expect the system was abused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Sparky7 - 2012-11-30 2:35 PM Unfortunately, campers are no longer allowed to overnight in the car park at Barnstaple. I expect the system was abused. I don't pretend to know the area..so just out of curiosity,was it ever truely "allowed" or,as is more often the case,was it just "tolerated"? .. :-S Let's hope that these "new" spaces don't get "abused"...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 No matter what the council put in place there`s always someone who will object ! I suspect the main objection will be having to " Pay £5 " with nothing in return especially if cars are allowed there overnight for nothing. They did it up here in Lancashire and now they`ve probably ruined it for everyone else as i`ve heard ( not officially though ) that the council are going to scrap the plan to continue the scheme. The other way people ruin it is to " Set Up Camp " for days on end. It`s happened over at " Moggs Eye " on the East coast with people on another forum boasting about the fact that they and many other spent 5 or more days set up on a car park. At one point there was apparently 32 motorhomes on the car park !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my mind that`s just begging to council to put up Height Barriers and stop all motorhomes using it. When i mentioned this on the other forum i just got people coming back saying.................. " The council have been threatening that for years, nothing will come of it " I just think that if everyone " Plays The Game " then we might just be made more welcome here in the UK than we are at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryW Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 It was also trialed at Dawlish Warren in Devon and withdrawn after it was abused. A great shame because that is a large carpark without bays, being mainly rough ground. it was also the carpark for the rail station that gave access to the South Coast. All I can say to those that abused these facilities 'thank pal and mind you don't drive over some old nails when you leave'. >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodach Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Nothing to do with Devon. Overnight parking was encouraged many years ago at Langholm in the Scottish Borders. Very nice it was too but this got abused and was withdrawn after about 2 years. This was about the 1960's I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 terryW - 2012-11-30 10:43 PM It was also trialed at Dawlish Warren in Devon and withdrawn after it was abused. A great shame because that is a large carpark without bays, being mainly rough ground. it was also the carpark for the rail station that gave access to the South Coast. All I can say to those that abused these facilities 'thank pal and mind you don't drive over some old nails when you leave'. >:-) Same old story i`m a afraid ......." A Few Morons "......... that spoil it for the majority ! Earlier this year we spent a night on the Kyle of Tongue, we was the only ones there. A couple of cars came and went, but late on just as it was going dark a Brand New 62 plate Escape Model ( Hired I Think ) Van came in, Bloke, Woman, and 4 Kids. They left early 6 AM the following morning with a scrabbling of the tyres as they sped out. As we was getting ready to go i noticed some rubbish over near where they had parked, so i went over to pick it up and put it with ours ready for the next bin we came to. That`s when i saw what they`d left behind, probably half a Black Bin Bag full but worse than that the Dirty Bast**ds had emptied their cassette just on the grass ! Oh how i wish i had the " Full Registration Number " i would quite happily put it on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 terryW - 2012-11-30 10:43 PM It was also trialed at Dawlish Warren in Devon and withdrawn after it was abused. A great shame because that is a large carpark without bays, being mainly rough ground. it was also the carpark for the rail station that gave access to the South Coast. All I can say to those that abused these facilities 'thank pal and mind you don't drive over some old nails when you leave'. >:-) The Motorcaravan parking at Dawlish Warren was on the landward side of the very low bridge under the railway. It was fully tarmacked. The very large gravel surfaced carpark on the seaward side is severly hight restricted. From memory around 7ft. Apart from being local it would never have been my choice to overnight owing to the close proximity of very extensive camp grounds and the beach leading to late night disturbance. It least Teignbridge tried but as ever the idiots spoilt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_C Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 George Collings - 2012-12-01 9:44 PM terryW - 2012-11-30 10:43 PM It was also trialed at Dawlish Warren in Devon and withdrawn after it was abused. A great shame because that is a large carpark without bays, being mainly rough ground. it was also the carpark for the rail station that gave access to the South Coast. All I can say to those that abused these facilities 'thank pal and mind you don't drive over some old nails when you leave'. >:-) The Motorcaravan parking at Dawlish Warren was on the landward side of the very low bridge under the railway. It was fully tarmacked. The very large gravel surfaced carpark on the seaward side is severly hight restricted. From memory around 7ft. Apart from being local it would never have been my choice to overnight owing to the close proximity of very extensive camp grounds and the beach leading to late night disturbance. It least Teignbridge tried but as ever the idiots spoilt it. There were certainly some who abused the facility, but ultimately it is up to the local council to have effective enforcement measures in place. Handing out PCNs for breaching local parking orders would soon have the desired effect. Teignbridge District Council were quite keen to make the Dawlish Warren 'experiment' permanent, the reason it was terminated was down to the local planning department who ruled that consent for a change of use would be required, and appropriate facilities installed. This made the idea too costly to continue. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondo Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I too read about this on another forum..No not Motorhome facts B-) and it seems that some councils are taking note of Motorhomers needs mind you there is a campsite owner complaining already.....The thing about ASDA not wanting you to park there even if only shopping is silly...you vote with your feet and go elsewhere..Why don't they take a leaf out of The French supermarkets book and provide LARGER SPACES for Motorhomes..it works in France..I remember on the Il de Oleron a few years ago a motorhome parking in the non motorhomes space and a guy sorting the shopping trolleys asked him to park in the Motorhome spaces he said there was no room as there were a couple of cars parked there..the shop worker got the cars moved and the motorhome got parked..try that in ASDA/TESCO/MORRISIONS??? Lets hope sense prevails and it becomes the norm.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Wooie - 2012-12-01 7:18 PM terryW - 2012-11-30 10:43 PM It was also trialed at Dawlish Warren in Devon and withdrawn after it was abused. A great shame because that is a large carpark without bays, being mainly rough ground. it was also the carpark for the rail station that gave access to the South Coast. All I can say to those that abused these facilities 'thank pal and mind you don't drive over some old nails when you leave'. >:-) Same old story i`m a afraid ......." A Few Morons "......... that spoil it for the majority ! Earlier this year we spent a night on the Kyle of Tongue, we was the only ones there. A couple of cars came and went, but late on just as it was going dark a Brand New 62 plate Escape Model ( Hired I Think ) Van came in, Bloke, Woman, and 4 Kids. They left early 6 AM the following morning with a scrabbling of the tyres as they sped out. As we was getting ready to go i noticed some rubbish over near where they had parked, so i went over to pick it up and put it with ours ready for the next bin we came to. That`s when i saw what they`d left behind, probably half a Black Bin Bag full but worse than that the Dirty Bast**ds had emptied their cassette just on the grass ! Oh how i wish i had the " Full Registration Number " i would quite happily put it on here. That is disgusting! Its no wonder we struggle to get councils to turn over their car parks to us with behaviour like that. Maybe we cant be trusted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 mondo - 2012-12-02 2:37 PM .Why don't they take a leaf out of The French supermarkets book and provide LARGER SPACES for Motorhomes..it works in France... As an ex English supermarket manager let me put the other side. It works in France, because France has plenty of alternative free parking, so even if you give unrestricted parking you still find nearly everyone on your car park is a customer. At the other end of the scale, in England public parking - especially free public parking, is usually in such short supply that if you don't put restrictions on your car park you soon find it full of people who park there and go somewhere else, so there is no room for your customers to get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Andy_C - 2012-12-02 10:34 AM George Collings - 2012-12-01 9:44 PM terryW - 2012-11-30 10:43 PM It was also trialed at Dawlish Warren in Devon and withdrawn after it was abused. A great shame because that is a large carpark without bays, being mainly rough ground. it was also the carpark for the rail station that gave access to the South Coast. All I can say to those that abused these facilities 'thank pal and mind you don't drive over some old nails when you leave'. >:-) The Motorcaravan parking at Dawlish Warren was on the landward side of the very low bridge under the railway. It was fully tarmacked. The very large gravel surfaced carpark on the seaward side is severly hight restricted. From memory around 7ft. Apart from being local it would never have been my choice to overnight owing to the close proximity of very extensive camp grounds and the beach leading to late night disturbance. It least Teignbridge tried but as ever the idiots spoilt it. There were certainly some who abused the facility, but ultimately it is up to the local council to have effective enforcement measures in place. Handing out PCNs for breaching local parking orders would soon have the desired effect. Teignbridge District Council were quite keen to make the Dawlish Warren 'experiment' permanent, the reason it was terminated was down to the local planning department who ruled that consent for a change of use would be required, and appropriate facilities installed. This made the idea too costly to continue. Andy Thanks for refreshing my memory re the planning issues at Dawlish Warren. The additional parking at Teignmouth may have been where abuse was the reason for withdrawing overnighting, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 We often hear on here about how wonderful & cheap the stop-over(Aires?)networks on the Contintent is..but isn't that only seeing them from a "passing-through-punter" viewpoint?. I often wonder just how some of them are seen by some of their "locals".... :-S Of cause there'd be some local businesses who would welcome the additional punters..but surely it's not unreasonable to assume that there'd also be just as many "disgruntled" local campsite/B&B owners and residents hacked off with any mess/abuse of the system etc,as we'd have over here... :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Peter James - 2012-12-02 4:36 PM mondo - 2012-12-02 2:37 PM .Why don't they take a leaf out of The French supermarkets book and provide LARGER SPACES for Motorhomes..it works in France... As an ex English supermarket manager let me put the other side. It works in France, because France has plenty of alternative free parking, so even if you give unrestricted parking you still find nearly everyone on your car park is a customer. At the other end of the scale, in England public parking - especially free public parking, is usually in such short supply that if you don't put restrictions on your car park you soon find it full of people who park there and go somewhere else, so there is no room for your customers to get in. In a " Nut Shell " that`s one of the problems here in Preston. The cost of parking in Preston City Centre is prohibitively expensive and whilst there are a couple of " Park and Rides " they too are very expensive if used before 09:30am. What we find is that a lot of the " City Centre " workers park on the Supermarket Car Parks and then catch the bus in as a pedestrian. They don`t even try to hide it, i`ve seen for example " 1 gentleman, suit, briefcase, etc. " get out of their car and walk straight to the Bus Stop. There is a Morrisons on Preston Marina that has a " Unbelievable " amount of vehicles on it`s car park Monday to Friday from say 08:00am. The other one is a Tesco near Leyland Town Centre which has exactly the same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manu Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Maybe Canterbury P & R is the model all these tinpot councils should look at....how much trade i wonder does it bring in , either it be car or MH ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Manu - 2012-12-03 5:39 PM Maybe Canterbury P & R is the model all these tinpot councils should look at....how much trade i wonder does it bring in , either it be car or MH ! What "model" does the Canterbury P&R follow?(..I can't see MHs mentioned on their P&R web page). Your second point,about how much trade it really brings in,is a question that I've raised in the past when previous overnight parking sites have been announced..... Over on another forum,I've already seen mention that the £5 is "rather pricey"... *-) As my old Mum used to say.."..Some people want jam on it..! " (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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