Norfolk Broads Direct

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ldobingw
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Norfolk Broads Direct

Post by ldobingw »

Good morning

My name is Les and I write as a resident of Wroxham and a motorhome owner.

Firstly, It is good to see the car park revamped and looking tidy, which is a huge enhancement. However, I notice that you do not allow motorhomes, only coaches by day.

I am a member of several national motorhome groups – The Caravan and Motorhome Club, The Caravan and Camping Club and CAMpRA (the Campaign for Real Aires).

https://campra.org.uk/

There are nearly 400,000 motorhome owners in the UK and this figure is growing fast and there are many times this figure in Europe.

Motorhomes are self sufficient as far as facilities are concerned and owners would be very keen to visit our area but parking and overnight stops are an issue and your car park sits empty overnight, when you could have an additional income from motorhomes which would also bring in extra revenue for other businesses.

Research shows that motorhome visitors are likely to spend an average of £50 per day when visiting an area. They are mostly retirees with disposable income

Motorhomers very rarely use campsites, preferring to overnight close to restaurants and pubs of a town.

Motorhomers rarely stay in hotels or B&Bs so any provision for an Aire would not be in competition with these providers.

I suspect any concerns you might have will be with regard to the 'wrong' people using these car parks/sites so, the founders at CAMpRA, have carried out research and discovered the following:

1) The presence of paying motorhomes deters criminals - lots of extra pairs of eyes – just display a contact number for police/security.

2) In rural areas, it has mostly eliminated fly tipping.

3) It can generate a fair amount of revenue which would offset any (minimal) costs involved.

4) We are associated with the 'Wild & Wombling Motorhomers' whose mission is to clear up litter after other people.

There are massive networking opportunities between motorhomers' social media groups, mobile phone apps to advertise availability and there would be lots of free advertising of the area as a tourist destination.

Thank you for your time and consideration and look forward to any feedback or comments.


Regards

Hi Les

Many thanks for your email, and for your kind comments about the improvements to the car park.

That is a good idea – we will discuss internally and see if this is something we could progress. We do also own Waveney River Centre at the other end of the Broads, so we are familiar with many of the requirements of motor home owners. I guess our biggest concern would be that, for much of the year, we would only be able to offer single night stays and would need to ensure that the coach park is clear for coaches in time for their arrival.

Obviously we are extremely busy at the moment, so might not be able to do anything straight away, but I like the idea in principle.

Thanks & kind regards

James

James Knight​
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Steve
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Re: Norfolk Broads Direct

Post by Steve »

Great reply, maybe let them know that they are in total control of when the site can allow motorcaravans.
An exemption certificate takes and average of 6 weeks, why not apply for a site exemption certificate (simple online application) so that the have the relevant permits in place ready for if they decide to allow it?
It is also a year round market.
Steve - CAMpRA Leadership Team
Traceybarkwill
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Re: Norfolk Broads Direct

Post by Traceybarkwill »

Well done. Perhaps reassure them that one night stays are exactly what we are looking for!
ldobingw
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Re: Norfolk Broads Direct

Post by ldobingw »

Good morning James

It is great to see the carparks are filling with lots of people waiting to hire boats and wander around the village again.

Further to our previous correspondence, I thought it might interest you to know that our discussion and your response has been well received and received comment from over 200 members of the CAMpRA community.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/campra. ... 4221052970

By way of moving forward, CAMpRA has grown at such pace, that it is now a “not for profit” registered company:

I am pleased to announce that CAMpRA has now taken the next step in our evolution and the leadership team has formed a NOT FOR PROFIT Company limited by guarantee.
The company is registered as CAMpRA UK Ltd.

Why have we taken this step and what does it mean to our 22,000 group members?

CAMpRA has grown from 200 members in July to over 22,000 and together with the groups associated with CAMpRA, we have access to over 600,000 motorcaravan owners.

CAMpRA is already recognised by councils, tourism and professional bodies and UK Government as the main source of information on Aires in the UK. In order
to negotiate with these bodies, to have a voice within these groups and to participate as stakeholders in decisions being made that affect the future of all motorcaravan owners in the UK, we felt it was necessary to move from being a group of volunteers to being a registered company. The leadership team felt it was important to maintain free membership of our group and remain a non profit organisation.

If we continue to work together to promote the benefits of overnight parking and waste disposal points in the UK we will achieve the same freedom and welcome that we find in the rest of Europe.

Donald Macdonald
CAMpRA UK Ltd
President

They have also produced a guide for facilities and requirement and a star rated certificate according to the facilities provided:

image001.jpg

Once again, thank you for your time and consideration and if you have any thoughts on other suitable locations, we would be happy to contact them (Awaiting
a response from Roys).

Regards

Les
ldobingw
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Re: Norfolk Broads Direct

Post by ldobingw »

Hi Les

Many thanks for the nudge.

This is something which we are considering, but sensibly we’re not going to be able to do anything this year as we are so flat out and (hopefully) things will only get busier as the season progresses.

We will also need to look into the feasibility of hookup and water points.

Please leave it with me – and good luck with finding as many sites as possible!

Thanks & kind regards

James

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Re: Norfolk Broads Direct

Post by Steve »

Why do they all think we need ehu 😩😩 they still don’t get it ,
We hope to have a new document soon about setting up an Aire.
Steve - CAMpRA Leadership Team
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