Campaign for Real Aires UK - CAMpRA

I sent the following email today to enquiries@forestryengland.uk attaching our Guide to Aires & Potential Aire Income documents:-

“Hello,

I am a motor caravan owner & member of a rapidly expanding and active national group of such owners known as Campaign for Real Aires (CAMpRA UK). If you have heard from CAMpRA already, please bear with me.

When travel restrictions are lifted, a huge pent up demand will be released as touring owners become active again. There has been a sales explosion of motor caravans with currently over 386,000 registered in the UK. It's not just those in the UK, but also those of the almost 2 million in Europe who will travel here. Caravan and tent sales have also boomed so that, as seen last summer, UK campsite capacity will be overwhelmed. However, self-contained motor caravans do not need campsites.

As explained in the attached, Aire is the French word meaning a stop-over parking place (not camping!) of 24-48 hours for self-contained motorhomes & motor caravans. Aires are commonplace all over Europe, but not in the UK. CAMpRA believes that this is to the detriment both of such vehicle owners and the UK economy currently struggling with the pandemic fallout.

Aires can be established at many and varied locations.. These simply could be car parks or any available areas that are level and firm, such as those at your forest locations. A suitable fee would be levied, basic for just parking, but more if fresh water and waste disposal services could be included. The economic benefits outlined in the attached to Forestry England would be long-term when the community of UK and European motor caravan owners realise it's a welcoming facility for them. Furthermore, increasingly, motor caravan owners are touring all year round, so these benefits would not be confined to just the summer season.

CAMpRA is ready and willing to assist your consideration of Aires. I invite you to visit campra.org.uk for free access to more detailed information. Or, email me or contact@campra.org,uk.

Thank you for taking time to consider this email and its attachments. I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,


Steve Birnie “

Below are the prompt email response from Forestry England and my reply - fingers crossed for a good outcome!:-

“Hello,

Many thanks for your prompt response yesterday to my email.

It’s great to have your confirmation of trialling overnight parking at Kielder Forest and I should apologise for not stating in my email that CAMpRA was aware of that facility.

We do hope the trialling results are positive for you and that you make overnighting facilities available at other suitable car parks under your control. Please do let us know the outcome and if CAMpRA can be of any assistance with the planning of any extended facilities, again, please do let us know.

Best regards,

Steve Birnie

Sent from my iPad

On 4 Mar 2021, at 13:17, Info <info@forestryengland.uk> wrote:


Good afternoon Steve,

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write to us it is very much appreciated.

We are continually looking at ways to provide additional services and facilities at suitable locations.

We are in fact currently trialling overnight parking at a site in the Kielder forest.

Kind regards,


Forestry England Enquiries Helpline
info@forestryengland.uk

www.forestryengland.uk “

Scotland which is smaller trialled sites all over the country.

Send the report from Northumberland Water which includes their sites
https://campra.org.uk/download/northumb ... ase-study/

I’ve emailed Forestry England today attaching the Northumberland Water Case Study document:-

“Hello again!

Since sending my email yesterday, the attached CAMpRA case study document has come to my notice. The details within it may already be in your knowledge. but if not I'm sure it will be of interest to you and, hopefully, will encourage you to extend overnighting facilities to the mutual benefit of you and touring motor caravan owners, as CAMpRA would like!

Again, thanks for your time,


Steve Birnie“

I have been given a contact at Forestry England North by the Ribble Valley Tourism officer who is manager at Gisburn Forest in Lancashire.
martin.colledge@forestryengland.uk.

I am going to contact him and I will reference the trial at Kielder in case he has not been involved.

I'll let you know how I get on.

I spoke to Martin Colledge at the Gisburn Forest Hub this week to talk about allowing overnight parking here.

He reported that he had heard very positive things from the manager at Kielder and was considering it at Gisburn but was worried about parking at the weekends when the site is very busy.

I explained that he would have control over the number of spots that would be available and when they would be available and that many motorhomers travel during the week when it would not be peak times.

He has water available but could not provide a black waste point as their toilets are on a septic tank.

I have sent him an email with a link to the Business hub and attached other information and I have asked him to consider if he wanted to take part in a sleep out to help out in June.

Great work. Having a septic tank does not prevent CDP disposal but would require use of only the green fluid. Campra reseach shows an increasing number of people using some form of environmentally friendly fluids. I'm not sure how you could ensure that people with the blue fluid do not use it but my worry is that, without the facilities for disposal, some irresponsible people will ditch their waste in the wrong places and spoil this for us all.

We need to find a solution but I don't know what it is!!

Surface tank like Eddie researched