Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

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CShel
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Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by CShel »

I have had this response today...

“ Hello Charles

Thank you for your email, and for the interesting proposal. I will discuss this with the Councillor who is Chair of our Assets and Environment Committee to see what her view is. My initial reaction (and I stress that this is just a first take) is that the car park idea has potential. I'm not so sure about the parking space alongside the toilet block, as I think that this would be problematic with regard to the bins.
Anyway, leave it with me and I'll come back to you.”

Regards

Paul
Paul Cunningham
Town Clerk
Beccles Town Council
Town Hall
The Walk
Beccles NR34 9AJ

Please note that the email address for the Town Clerk has changed to TownClerk@beccles.info. Please update your records accordingly.

TownClerk@beccles.info

Telephone 01502 712109
Website: www.beccles.info
CShel
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by CShel »

Despite us at CAMpRA doing well with BPA, this is the response from Beccles …
A holiday destination for Broads boating holidays.
Only a couple of small hotels. No camping sites near by.

“Hello Charles

The idea of using the Quay Car Park for Motorhomes was discussed by Councillors yesterday, but they have decided not to proceed further with this.”

Regards
Paul
Paul Cunningham
Town Clerk
Beccles Town Council
Town Hall
The Walk
Beccles NR34 9AJ

Please note that the email address for the Town Clerk has changed to TownClerk@beccles.info. Please update your records accordingly.

Telephone 01502 712109
Website: www.beccles.info


I’ve responded…

“ Hello Paul

Thanks for letting me know.
I wonder why the opportunity to help the town benefit from their custom has been turned down? No physical work is needed in the making of it available, and the income could pay for its improvement.
Were the economic development and tourism heads consulted? Won’t the local pubs, restaurants and shops be concerned that they won’t get their business as they can’t drink and drive after a good night out.

CAMpRA has actually been advising the British Parking Association this last week with their investigations on accommodating motorhomes and campervans, as there are so many of them now. BPA represents every car park in the UK, council owned and private, and they advise on policies concerning economic development and tourism at government level.

Their zoom meeting last week had representatives of councils across the country, and all but 2 (Yorkshire and Pembrokeshire) were in favour of allocating motorhome parking bays where reasonable, with Service Points (water and waste facilities) and to allow ‘sleeping, not camping’ in them.

South Hams DC (South Devon) has published on their website it’s intention to implement 9 motorhome sections into key car parks as soon as possible - so it is happening! See this image of their website pages





I’m sorry that Beccles could not see the light straightaway. Maybe it’ll catch up once it actually sees how many are driving past the town to spend their time and money elsewhere?

By getting in earlier, Beccles would have been part of the publicity we are building up for the launch of the East Anglia Coastal Tour Route.

The nearest campsites to Beccles are way away. There’s a small CL club 5-van site at Gillingham at £18/n, and the rather nice but very expensive site at Geldeston at £35/night (wow!). So Beccles is hardly likely to see any staycationers, beyond the usual boating visitors, this summer.

The income, I think that would come to Beccles all year round, from Motorhomes is in the region of £327,000 pa.

Maybe you know of some private landowners who would like to open up an area, like Hippersons used to do? What about the boat park opposite, beside the river, which looks pretty quiet now. Who is the owner? We often find marinas/boat parks a good match as boats and motorhomes are similar in their needs and offerings for fun, adventurous travel.

Please feel free to contact me anytime.

Cheers
Charles”
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by Steve »

Nice response Charles 👍
Steve - CAMpRA Leadership Team
CShel
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by CShel »

Today, I received this positive follow up email from Beccles Council’s Town Clerk…


Hello Charles

You may recall that we had an email exchange (below) more than two years ago concerning the potential use of part of our car park at Beccles Quay for motorhomes? Councillors then rejected the idea but we have a new set of councillors and they have asked me to contact you with a view to considering the proposal again.
Could we arrange a telephone call or a Zoom meeting to chat through the possibilities? The relevant council Committee next meets on August 14th.

Thanks
Paul

Paul Cunningham
Town Clerk
Beccles Town Council
Town Hall
The Walk
Beccles NR34 9AJ

paul.cunningham@becclestowncouncil.gov.uk
Telephone 01502 712109

I’m on it….!
Website: www.becclestowncouncil.gov.uk
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by Steve »

CShel wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 9:09 pm Today, I received this positive follow up email from Beccles Council’s Town Clerk…


Hello Charles

You may recall that we had an email exchange (below) more than two years ago concerning the potential use of part of our car park at Beccles Quay for motorhomes? Councillors then rejected the idea but we have a new set of councillors and they have asked me to contact you with a view to considering the proposal again.
Could we arrange a telephone call or a Zoom meeting to chat through the possibilities? The relevant council Committee next meets on August 14th.

Thanks
Paul

Paul Cunningham
Town Clerk
Beccles Town Council
Town Hall
The Walk
Beccles NR34 9AJ

paul.cunningham@becclestowncouncil.gov.uk
Telephone 01502 712109

I’m on it….!
Website: www.becclestowncouncil.gov.uk
Great news Charles 👍
Steve - CAMpRA Leadership Team
CShel
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by CShel »

Update after the summer…

I chased up the Town Clerk and Mayoress in an email, asking what progress?

“ Hello Charles

We had a negative reaction from Broads Authority as pre-planning advice, which amounted to ‘don’t bother applying, it will be rejected because the car park is in a flood zone’.

However, I can’t see any reason why our Committee in November can’t consider applying for the Planning Exemption Certificate for a 5-van site; I did look at the guidance on Rally Group website. Can I just ask you to check with the Rally Group please that such exemptions still apply where a National Park authority (in our case, the Broads Authority) are the planning authority?

Regarding the car wash site, there is only one hand car wash site in Beccles, by Tesco. I’m not sure that it would be suitable, as access is narrow and involves a sharp turn. There is a car wash site further along the A146 towards Lowestoft at Barnby which might be a better bet. I think it would be better for you or someone else from Campra to approach them, rather than us.

Regards
Paul

Paul Cunningham
Town Clerk
Beccles Town Council
Town Hall
The Walk
Beccles NR34 9AJ

paul.cunningham@becclestowncouncil.gov.uk
Telephone 01502 712109
Website: https://becclestowncouncil.gov.uk/


I must respond with words about the Broads Authority who govern areas in this ‘National Park’, and tell them that our authority is from the Natural England. Is that right?

A second email response followed…
“ Hi again Charles, Christine has reminded me that there is a second car wash in Beccles, see below for details.
Paul

Hi Paul:
There's one on London road with good access. Beccles Hand Car Wash Nr.1 - Car Wash (business.site) https://beccles-hand-car-wash-nr1.business.site/

Meanwhile, I’m also in touch with the Car Wash Association in London as I’d like their response to working with us, when speaking to local businesses in my area of East Norfolk and Suffolk. See my post in National Groups in this forum.
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by CShel »

Beccles Hand Car-Wash No1

Further to our email exchange with the Town Council/Town Clerk recently, I drove down, on Wednesday, to this Car-Wash business in my Globecar hoping to meet the owner to discuss the prospect of turning this business into a Service Point for Motorcaravans. He was there and his name is Mr Nassir Mohammadi. He has many decades of experience running these businesses on various sites.

This is another former fuel station, and he has leased the whole site which includes a 6-bedroom Ed house beside it, and a good bit of land behind the courtyard, which is fenced off at the back.

I showed his what we motorhomers need, all year round (especially now that many campsites are closed), and explained our needs when touring. His location on the main road from the south on the way to Norfolk is perfect, not only for Services but also that an aire here would be popular too. He said he’s already found vans parked up at the side of his forecourt when he’s arrived early in the morning, as they haven’t found anywhere else to stopover. He’s reluctant to host them, tho, as he has had the fence broken into and stuff stolen from his locked shed behind the gate. I don’t suppose those people were the criminals however, and reckon that if more were present they’d deter any thieves.

He is interested, and he has 2 toilets at the far end of the service area, with a fresh water tap. It would be perfect for a van to stop there and allow others to follow in behind, with a short distance to the exit. He would need to adapt the plumbing and build a disposal unit for cassette toilet waste, and build a drive over grey waste drain, too.

I gave him my CAMpRA business card and the Services/Aire leaflet and said we’d advise him on the next step. I followed up that evening with an email that included a photo of a service drain set up, and a link to the website page showing the Service Points.

He still has a thick foreign accent and may have difficulty reading the info as he is of Middle East extraction and didn’t always make himself clear to me when discussing details, so I would like to have someone from CAMpRA HQ ring him up and confirm all I’ve said to him, which includes free advertising of his business on SFS. I am happy to return to this location to help him list the business, and to talk to Beccles Council about his involvement when needed.

His number is 07447 902299

I’d like someone with experience of talking to prospects about installing theses facilities to give him a call.

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CShel
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Re: Beccles Town Council (on the Broads)

Post by CShel »

We are a step closer!
I had an early meeting this morning with Paul Cunningham, the Town Clerk, who now has the town council behind him with the provision of motorhome parking spaces for stopovers at Beccles Quay car park. It’s got toilets and showers 2 minutes away, and a cafe at the gym over the road, and the centre is a 10 minute walk away.
We measured the area he plans to allocate to motorhomers, and discussed signage on site, on the way to the site, and charges (which will possibly be restricted by the ability of the ticket machine company to set times for motorhomes differently from cars which start at 8am. An overnight charge could go from 6pm to 9am, and may be £10/night in summer and £5 in winter.
He will speak to the machine company asap and email our HQ to ask about obtaining the MH signs and what further support can be offered.
I will handle the advertising on SFS ready to launch it when he has a Press Release for local media. I’m hoping that January is the launch date.
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