Cumbria Coastal Tour: Good News
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 1:52 pm
Good News: Cumbria Coastal Tour
Report of telephone conversation with Cumbria Tourism.
Cumbria Tourism are working with Lake District National Park, County Council, Carlisle City Council and the Coastal Boroughs of Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland and Allerdale on a joined up review of the approach to motor Caravan Tourism.
She made the following points:
They recognise motor caravan tourism has been an area that their Tourism Policies have been blind to.
Appropriate infrastructure is lacking.
The many comments in their visitor survey bear this out.
They want to divert motor caravans away from already congested narrow single track roads
They want to distribute motor caravans away from the Central Lakes
They have had a difficult summer
Residents have felt under siege.
They need a better approach.
They recognise that a Coastal Tour aligns with their policies and are working on setting one up. They intend to support this with publicity, itineraries, maps, website, etc. I suggested that motor caravan websites will very quickly disseminate details of Aires and services, and gave Seachforsites as an example. Also I recommended they look at how German and Norwegian websites promote their very successful scenic tours.
They want to have a basic network of overnight parking places (Aires) and service points in place for Easter 2021. I stressed that priority must be given to service points to avoid the experiences of North Coast 500.
They will prioritise the coast from Barrow-in-Furness up to the Solway and Carlisle. They have had difficulty getting South Lakeland District Council on board owing to the extent of difficulties they have had in summer 2020, and think this section of coast will have to follow as a second phase. (an area where perhaps CAMpRA may direct its promotion of Aires to pubs, clubs etc.).
Because of the short timescale they hope to persuade existing campsites to offer paid use of their service points to non-resident motor caravans. I reminded her that services need to be available all year round, and stressed the reasons why many motor caravanners will not generally use campsites. A possible quid pro quo is their offering to extend the season that campsites are allowed to stay open next year. They are a little wary of potential competition issues with campsites. I reminded them of Competition and Markets Authority Guidance regarding this. They are mindful of this but want to step gently as it is a local political issue.
They are identifying suitable public car-parks for designated overnight parking in locations where it does not disadvantage residents and businesses with late night or overnight parking needs, and are resolving issues with existing by-laws (such as at Walney Island) or other prohibitions, TROs etc.
I mentioned we had zero feedback from Carlisle. She said Carlisle City Council were involved as a Stakeholder. They do have existing motorhome parking but not overnight, but they are looking at providing overnight parking. I reminded her of the critical position of Carlisle for coastal and Northern Link Tours, and the great opportunity there was to attract visitors from the thousands of motor caravans that stream daily by on the M6, and compared Carlisle with its twin City of Flensburg with its three stallplatze and large University Baths permitted parking area. I think the point was well accepted.
I mentioned our document on Model Standards and that we were expecting to receive a Fire Report once final editing and proof reading is finished. I don’t think she was previously aware of the 1983 interpretation and guidance regarding the 1960 Act and Model Standards. I informally mentioned moves to have the Act amended for Motor Caravan Aires, which may help make small Aires more profitable. She invited me to follow up with any other material or suggestions that we feel may help them.
If anyone in our CAMpRA group in the Cumbria area with local knowledge and contacts wants to help a CAMpRA drive to promote setting up Aires in the car parks or grounds of local businesses, pubs, clubs, village halls, etc. along the route please reply here or contact me by PM on Messenger.
Report of telephone conversation with Cumbria Tourism.
Cumbria Tourism are working with Lake District National Park, County Council, Carlisle City Council and the Coastal Boroughs of Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland and Allerdale on a joined up review of the approach to motor Caravan Tourism.
She made the following points:
They recognise motor caravan tourism has been an area that their Tourism Policies have been blind to.
Appropriate infrastructure is lacking.
The many comments in their visitor survey bear this out.
They want to divert motor caravans away from already congested narrow single track roads
They want to distribute motor caravans away from the Central Lakes
They have had a difficult summer
Residents have felt under siege.
They need a better approach.
They recognise that a Coastal Tour aligns with their policies and are working on setting one up. They intend to support this with publicity, itineraries, maps, website, etc. I suggested that motor caravan websites will very quickly disseminate details of Aires and services, and gave Seachforsites as an example. Also I recommended they look at how German and Norwegian websites promote their very successful scenic tours.
They want to have a basic network of overnight parking places (Aires) and service points in place for Easter 2021. I stressed that priority must be given to service points to avoid the experiences of North Coast 500.
They will prioritise the coast from Barrow-in-Furness up to the Solway and Carlisle. They have had difficulty getting South Lakeland District Council on board owing to the extent of difficulties they have had in summer 2020, and think this section of coast will have to follow as a second phase. (an area where perhaps CAMpRA may direct its promotion of Aires to pubs, clubs etc.).
Because of the short timescale they hope to persuade existing campsites to offer paid use of their service points to non-resident motor caravans. I reminded her that services need to be available all year round, and stressed the reasons why many motor caravanners will not generally use campsites. A possible quid pro quo is their offering to extend the season that campsites are allowed to stay open next year. They are a little wary of potential competition issues with campsites. I reminded them of Competition and Markets Authority Guidance regarding this. They are mindful of this but want to step gently as it is a local political issue.
They are identifying suitable public car-parks for designated overnight parking in locations where it does not disadvantage residents and businesses with late night or overnight parking needs, and are resolving issues with existing by-laws (such as at Walney Island) or other prohibitions, TROs etc.
I mentioned we had zero feedback from Carlisle. She said Carlisle City Council were involved as a Stakeholder. They do have existing motorhome parking but not overnight, but they are looking at providing overnight parking. I reminded her of the critical position of Carlisle for coastal and Northern Link Tours, and the great opportunity there was to attract visitors from the thousands of motor caravans that stream daily by on the M6, and compared Carlisle with its twin City of Flensburg with its three stallplatze and large University Baths permitted parking area. I think the point was well accepted.
I mentioned our document on Model Standards and that we were expecting to receive a Fire Report once final editing and proof reading is finished. I don’t think she was previously aware of the 1983 interpretation and guidance regarding the 1960 Act and Model Standards. I informally mentioned moves to have the Act amended for Motor Caravan Aires, which may help make small Aires more profitable. She invited me to follow up with any other material or suggestions that we feel may help them.
If anyone in our CAMpRA group in the Cumbria area with local knowledge and contacts wants to help a CAMpRA drive to promote setting up Aires in the car parks or grounds of local businesses, pubs, clubs, village halls, etc. along the route please reply here or contact me by PM on Messenger.