Clash over overnight motorhome parking ban in Scarborough and Whitby

​The proposed introduction of a permanent order prohibiting the overnight parking of motor caravans in Sandsend and North Bay in Scarborough has divided coastal councillors.

​It comes as an “overwhelming” portion of responses to North Yorkshire Council’s (NYC) consultation on its Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) objected to the scheme.

​At a meeting in Whitby, councillors said the scheme had successfully addressed issues caused by an “unacceptable level” of motorhomes using certain streets, including impacts on visual amenity and safety.

​Cllr Janet Jefferson said it was a “relief to not get texts and messages every weekend about the number of campervans, which had started to look like a shantytown”.

​Speaking at the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee on Monday (March 2) Cllr Eric Broadbent added that the number of emails he received had “halved because a majority were complaints saying that too many motorhomes are parking on Marine Drive”.

​​However, since its introduction, thousands of residents have reportedly also complained about the “displacement effects” of the order.

​Cllr Rich Maw said that the ban “doesn’t remove demand, it displaces it” and that his email inbox was “stacked out with correspondence”.

​He told the meeting: “I have received volumes of complaints, I’ve held public meetings and raised these concerns, but I’m not being heard.

​“The campervans are relocating to residential areas, and locals are waking up to campervans outside their windows, disposing of grey water, and hanging up laundry on their hedges.”

​He added that “the more proportionate response would be to reinstate parking with charges, police distances, generate revenue, and allow enforcement while protecting residential amenity.

​“We need to ask if we’re solving the original issue or just displacing the problem.”

​The ​ETRO was introduced to restrict overnight parking at Sandsend, Royal Albert Drive, and Cayton Bay, ​but the council has not been able to use data from the latter location as signs at Cayton Bay were subjected to vandalism.

​Cayton division councillor, Roberta Swiers, said: “In my area, my emails have doubled, the number of photos I’m getting has doubled, and obviously it’s not been a success.”

​​North Yorkshire Council has been undertaking a consultation on the “impacts of the prohibitions and needs” to determine a way forward in advance of the ETRO expiring in May.

​A decision on the future of the scheme will be made in April .

​“With more than 3,000 responses to the consultation, there are many subject matters covered which are outside the scope of the ETRO and the decision whether it should be made permanent,” according to a report prepared for the meeting.

​Richard Marr, a council area manager for highways, said the authority would look at the displaced parking in future parking reviews.

​He added: “There are plans to examine how we identify impacted locations, and rather than a piecemeal approach that pushes parking to the next street, we are considering a wider view to how we deal with motorhomes across the county”.

​“We need to consider this with the council’s tourism department, because there’s quite a strong demand from the motorhome caravan fraternity and there are many benefits as well”.

​Councillors echoed that they did not want Scarborough to have a reputation of being “anti-motorhome because they bring money and investment and we do need to ask, where will they go”.