By William Coleman
Just under two weeks ago I stumbled across an article on the Dorset Echo website where a motorhome user felt slightly shunned by some of the new restriction brought in to an area they love to visit. A local resident from the area has publicly replied with her opinion on the matter. What do you think?
So before you read the reply I wanted to take a moment to go over my thoughts on the topic. There are some residents, especially in very popular tourist destinations, are none too pleased with the amount of attention the area gets.
What these residents are not considering, but are probably aware of, is the importance of local tourism. We have seen what can happen to holiday towns, especially coastal ones, once the tourism dies off. Towns like Margate are a ghostly shell of what they once were whereas other towns who embrace tourism are flourishing and as popular as ever.
That being said I feel very strongly about tourism not having an adverse effect on an area. There have been occasions where some tourists just cause havoc and ignore all the rules. This can give caravan and motorhome owners a bad name and leave a very sour taste in the mouths of locals.
So as long as residents understand the importance of local tourism and holiday makers do not infringe on locals and their way of life all should be well.
I, and I am sure all the residents in this lovely part of world, were delighted that Gill Thomas loves West Bay.
However she goes on to say that she is a responsible motorhome owner and cannot understand why we are so hesitant to have her in West Bay – although she does acknowledge that there are some owners who are not so responsible.
Well, Gill, I am sure you will agree that when visiting any area one needs to abide by the rules.
The Station car park distinctly says no overnight sleeping. You say why not pay for a warden.
Well, would you want to be abused by the irresponsible owners who feel it is their right to sleep there, or even say they haven’t been sleeping there when they are sitting outside their motorhome in their pyjamas having their breakfast?
In the summertime I have counted more than 30 motorhomes in the car park, many of whom camp all summer long.
It is a car park, not a camping site, and as such there needs to be room for cars.
The only way, and one which apparently West Dorset District Council have considered, is to ban all vehicles from the Station car park from 10pm-8am.
There are campsites open from March to November and in the summer additional places on the West Bay road campsite, so please use these in future.
-Sue Pollock
So now we have seen the other side of the argument you can see why some people are unhappy with motorhomes in their towns.
I am a bit of a stickler for the rules when it comes to things like this. I get that there are some people who do not do any harm by using these car parks but I do not feel that parking areas should be used for mobile accommodation, that’s why they are named car parks and not campsites.
The are more than enough sites in fantastic areas around the country to use so as not to “abuse” relaxed local parking rules.
