NewsBeat
Motorhome parking ban signs thrown ‘over the cliff within hours’
North Yorkshire Council’s plan to permanently prohibit the overnight parking of motor caravans in Sandsend and North Bay in Scarborough has divided councillors and members of the public alike.
An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) was introduced to restrict overnight parking at Sandsend, Royal Albert Drive, and Cayton Bay after NYC said the number of motorhomes had reached an “unacceptable level”.
However, the council’s consultation on the future of the ban has met with an “overwhelming” number of objections.
Cllr Roberta Swiers, who represents Cayton, said the trial had “obviously not been a success” and recounted how signs notifying motorhome users of the ban were ripped down.
“The signs that were put up were ripped down within hours and thrown over the cliff,” she told a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee on March 2.
“So think of the cost of those alone, to be put up and cemented in, only for the same thing to happen before the cement dried, with the signs thrown down the cliffs again. It’s actually vandalism.”
Richard Marr, area highways manager for North Yorkshire Council, confirmed that “the plan to carry out the [parking] experiment down Cayton Bay failed due to repeated vandalism and difficulties with getting the signing put up for a period long enough to carry out the experiment”.
NYC will only be able to use data gathered from Sandsend and North Bay when it makes a decision on the future of the ban next month.
At the area committee meeting, coastal councillors debated the effectiveness of the scheme, with some stating it had been a success while others said it had displaced the issue of parking to residential streets, resulting in thousands more complaints.
Cllr Swiers suggested that “the only result that we can get, certainly in this area and perhaps in other areas, is to use these Park and Rides, make it official, and direct motorhome users to them.”
“If you’re going to pay a small amount, surely that would be better as you would know your motorhome will be safe to a much greater degree than leaving it on a cliffside.”
She added: “We have to do something because I’m in for a right summer again. I was actually looking forward to a quiet year last year and that didn’t happen.
“It was worse because people who were on the Cleveland Way walking path were getting verbally abused by the people in the caravans and the motorhomes.”
Mr Marr, highways manager, noted: “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”.