Agenda and draft minutes

Ann Membery acknowledged that overnight stays of vehicles brought in extra revenue.  However, she was concerned that large diesel vehicle emissions were polluting the environment.  An influx of motorhomes and campervans would have a detrimental effect on the environment and prevent parking for others.  She was also concerned about fire safety issues.  She felt that overnight parking should be banned.

A statement was read out on behalf of Annette Ladbrook.  She pointed out that Cornwall County Council and Kent County Council had made the decision to restrict overnight stays for motorhomes in their car parks and urged the forum to contact Cornwall County Council to ask the reasons behind their decision, before EDDC made a decision.  She urged EDDC to consider the tourism multiplier effect and suggested that what was needed was the holiday maker who would pay for their overnight accommodation in local campsites and holiday parks, purchase locally produced goods and also pay for their parking when exploring the region.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2021 were agreed as a true record.

Declarations of interest.

Councillor Eleanor Rylance, Personal, had received a number of emails in relation to agenda item 7.

Declarations of interest.

Councillor Joe Whibley, Personal, Exmouth town councillor and had received a number of emails in relation to agenda item 7.

Declarations of interest.

Councillor Kim Bloxham, Personal, had received a number of emails in relation to agenda item 7.

Declarations of interest.

Councillor Maddy Chapman, Personal, Exmouth town councillor and had received a number of emails in relation to agenda item 7.

Declarations of interest.

Councillor Olly Davey, Personal, Exmouth town councillor and had received a number of emails in relation to agenda item 7.  An aquaintance, a local resident, had experienced problems with parking his campervan overnight..

Information on matters of urgency is available online

There were no matters of urgency.

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the press) have been excluded.

There were no items which officers recommended should be dealt with in this way.

There is a discussion paper for the meeting from the Service Lead – Environmental Health and Car Parks.

The Service Lead – Environmental Health and Car Parks introduced a discussion paper on a revised policy for motorhomes and campervans in EDDC pay and display car parks. He also thanked the members of the public for their contributions.

East Devon was seeing an increasing number and variety of kinds of campervans and motorhomes on its highways and in its public car parks.  Increasing numbers also appeared to be actively seeking the freedom of parking overnight in unauthorised locations.  The issue was not whether there was a desire to attract these visitors (as they were already in the district) but how to deal with them, what the district council could offer, and whether there was the opportunity to raise revenue.

The Council had previously approved a policy in 2015 prohibiting the parking of motorhomes and campervans in any of its public car parks between the hours of 10pm and 8am the following day.  Prior to this it used to specify ‘no overnight sleeping’ in the car parks, but this was almost impossible to enforce.  By 2015 a new problem was emerging whereby with its inexpensive permit tariffs the Council was inadvertently encouraging local campervan and motorhome owners to use some of its car parks as a cheap storage facility for their vehicle when they were not in use.  To address this Cabinet decided that EDDC wished to encourage day visitors in motorhomes and caravans, but only between 8am to 10pm daily.  A pilot scheme (about to enter its third season, at the request of Exmouth Town Council) was set up to consider the impact of allowing overnight ‘camping’ for up to three consecutive nights in specified car parks in Exmouth and that overnight parking of any campervan or motorhome would not be allowed in any other car park (to prevent both storage and overnight camping).   This pilot demonstrated that there was the demand for this type of parking and evidence was being seen of overnight stays in car parks that had not been included in the Exmouth pilot.  Members were invited to consider whether it was EDDC’s role to acknowledge that measures to carefully and sensitively fulfil this demand could well have benefits for both town economies and the Council’s own revenue.

The forum accepted that the 2015 policy was in need of revision to recognise both the continuing demand for short term overnight pitches for campervans and motorhomes in East Devon’s towns and rural areas, along with the issues and tensions that were arising due to vehicles continuing to find unauthorised on-street locations for overnight parking.  Another issue for the forum to consider was local residents who used small/medium sized campervans as their main or second vehicles.  The current policy prevented them from parking these vehicles overnight in public car parks close to their own homes.

The Exmouth pilot raised a number of unresolved questions relating to rules and regulations that would need to be imposed on any sites where it was considered appropriate to allow overnight stays.  Consideration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.