‘Scrap this ill-conceived and unworkable’ motorhome pass scheme, Highland Council is told by MSP Edward Mountain in a letter to council leader Raymond Bremner
“Scrap this ill-conceived and unworkable idea” Highland Council is told in a letter from MSP Edward Mountain to leader Raymond Bremner seeking answers on the motorhome pass scheme.
Mr Mountain is the latest high profile critic of the workability of a scheme that relies on motorhomers volunteering to pay £40 for a week of stop at a council car park when parking enforcement does not operate.
The SNP-Independent administration, according to the council, proposed the idea in this year’s budget but its introduction was met with uproar from campsite owners who cried foul.
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They argued the local authority was breaching health and safety protocols by having motorhomes parked too closely together and said even if they were not it is not right they should be undercutting local businesses.
The Highland Conservative MSP picked up the issue after “this scheme has been continually raised with me by constituents as I travel around the Highlands. It was also raised at the tourism event that I recently hosted in Wick.”
He sided with the campsite owners and managers when he wrote to the leader of the SNP at the council: “I am concerned that this scheme, which inappropriately brings the council into direct competition with local businesses, has not been subject to proper consultation. I can not find a list of the businesses that were consulted and what the outcome of that consultation was.
“I am unclear on whether the council, when implementing this scheme, have complied with the planning and health and safety regulations regarding the provision of camping sites. It is clear that private sites have much more onerous planning and health and safety regulations which extend to more than just marking bays in established car parks.”
He continued: “I am also unclear how the council believes that this scheme will work without enforcement. I am told that in the first six weeks of the scheme only 38 permits were sold. It was clear more than that number of campervans parked in the allocated bays. It is bizarre that this was not predicted. We control car parking with wardens and yet it appears the council believes that the campervan scheme could work without enforcement.”
The cost of the scheme appear to be absent, according to the MSP, as he had to ask for them: “I cannot find the true costs for this scheme and it would be helpful to know what these are, including the annual repayments that will have to be made to Highlife Highland as part of this scheme.”
Summing up, Mr Mountain called for the whole idea to be binned, saying: “For these reasons alone I believe that the council should scrap this ill-conceived and unworkable idea before it further damages existing campsites. However, in a worst-case scenario would urge you to look at reviewing the scheme.”
