# Dorset Parking Update



## Westbay (Mar 15, 2008)

Being surprised to see my original post on Motorhome parking in Dorchester rearing its head again I thought you might like this little West Dorset update.

1.	The new Dorchester / Weymouth relief road is now open and working wonders, it really is superb – you can easily drive from Tesco roundabout to Weymouth outskirts in under 10mins without any holdups.

2.	Weymouth interior is still not a place for the faint hearted – road works still abound.

3.	Dorchester parking. To sort out the parking problems in Dorc they have: shelved the proposed park&ride (someone objected to a site only overlooked by a few cows); propose using the WEYMOUTH park&ride when it opens in July, and bus back to Dorc; closed a major town centre car park to build nice new council offices.

4.	I requested information on how many of the 1,200 new park&ride bays in Weymouth would be for motorhomes – you might just guess the answer. None. Motorhomes will have to use regular bays – the ones with West Dorset’s 4.8m max length rule. The bus back from town will only run until 6pm.

5.	In the interest of parking control, West Dorset parking officers have been given new powers. To get over the ‘no sticking notices to moving vehicles’ rule, officers can now photograph offenders and send fixed penalty notices in the post.

Welcome to Britain’s Olympic Sailing Centre. :evil: 8O :roll:


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## LadyJ (May 9, 2005)

Motorhomes are not welcome in Swanage either any more  where you could last year park in the North Shore car park over night you can not now and the cost of parking for the day has risen from £5 to £9  


Jacquie


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## Bubblehead (Mar 5, 2007)

I recently wrote to my local councilor requesting that they provided parking, here is my email

Dear Councillor Philpott

I sent the email below to Gosport Council enquires on the 26 Oct hoping to raise the issue of motorhome overnight parking within the area. I did not receive a response, which as a Gosport resident I feel particularly disappointed. 

I wish the council to consider allowing motorhomes to park in some of the car parks as this will bring much needed trade into the area. The initiative has already been seized by Canterbury Council who have created an ‘Aire’ at one of their park and ride car parks (New Dover road P&R). Fylde council are now considering the same.

Gosport has much to offer motorhome users and in return they will spend money in the local area on tourist attractions, shops and restaurants. Many motorhome users are retired and always shop local, eat local whilst touring. Any facility that could be offered would be welcomed however simple facilities such as fresh water and a waste disposal point are most welcomed. Parking facilities in line with the French Aire system is long overdue in the UK and an opportunity to tap into this huge leisure market exists. This could be the difference between failure and survival for many local businesses in these rather testing times.

All I ask is that the council consider setting aside some parking areas that enable motorhomes stay overnight for a couple of nights with the possible provision of water, waste disposal and possibly electricity. Canterbury do this with a dedicated 20 pitch Aire with access to fresh water and waste for £2.50 per night including the P&R bus into town. I’m sure that parking for say 5-8 motorhomes could be established in areas such as Haslar, Alverstoke, Stokes Bay, or adjacent to the Explosion Museum at minimal cost and maximum gain to local communities for around £5 per night.

I have attached the original email and the extract from the Fylde council website

Yours



I received the following response:

Dear Mr C*****,

I do apologise for the exceptional amount of time it has taken to come back to you with an answer to the points you raised last November.

I initially sought the views of some of my fellow councillors representing wards with seafront car parks. All my colleagues felt your suggestion was worthy of consideration and I asked the council's Head of Streetscene for his views. Here are some of the points that emerged form his investigation:

1. Firstly we would need to change the car parking order as at present the order states no overnight camping. The order has only recently been changed so this would be an additional cost.

The majority of the car parks have height barriers to prevent travellers gaining access, so a major consideration would be how to manage legitimate over night campers and keep travellers out. 

We would need to provide electricity plug in points and waste water disposal as well as waste disposal which would be a cost and would possibly be open to vandalism. 

We would also need to possibly have 24 hour toilet facilities available again leading to the potential for vandalism. 

He concluded by saying that he felt the costs would far out weigh the benefits and he pointed out that facilities for motorhomes already exist at the Kingfisher Caravan Park which is easily accessible.

Of the examples you gave it would seem that Fylde lends itself to the most appropriate comparison with Gosport. I don't know how far Fylde have got with their proposals and how they managed to find the resources required to develop existing car parks. Canterbury, I feel, is not comparable. Their scheme involves the utilisation of out-of-town park & ride car parks. With upwards of two million tourists visiting the city each year it is easy to see how such a scheme is viable. 

I certainly feel there is merit in the points you raised. I also feel that some of my fellow councillors would share this view. However, with a commercial operator in close proximity to Stokes Bay already offering facilities for motorhomes and the prospect of a financial outlay to convert existing car parks, I am not optimistic that an overnight facility for motorhomes on council owned car parks is likely to obtain approval. If you wish I will take the matter again the the Chairman of the relevant committee to see whether we can get a report put before councillors.

I am sorry if this response appears negative.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Stephen Philpott 


I guess that's a NO then! I wounder what the local businessmen would think about the councils response?

Andy


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Bubblehead said:


> I wounder what the local businessmen would think about the councils response?
> 
> Andy


To be honest Andy, I doubt they would even think about it at all. If a town gets enough visitors then the extra few that an aire- put in at some expense to local ratepayers- brings is unimportant to them.

A case in point is my own home town. We have an authorised motorhome overnight place; Thames-side location, minutes to a lovely scenic Thames-side town with all facilities and 5 minutely bus service to Oxford, boat hire, boat trips within 2 minutes, on the Thames path with lock close by etc etc. The site appears in Camperstop and in MHF but I have only seen a couple of vans there in all the years we have monitored it. Oxford has 2 areas for day parking of MHs at the P&Rs but it is- trust me- an event when we spot a van in one of them !

G


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## Bubblehead (Mar 5, 2007)

Grizzly said:


> Bubblehead said:
> 
> 
> > I wounder what the local businessmen would think about the councils response?
> ...


Hi We've used the P&R at Oxford when visiting the city, but would be interested in more details on the overnight place, didnt know it existed

Andy


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