‘We are asking the Highland Council to scrap their scheme’ say campsite owners across the north
Several campsites across the Highlands have said a new scheme set out by the local authority ‘will not support their businesses’.
Earlier this year, The Highland Council launched a scheme that offers 12 of its car parks for overnight campervan stays and access to High Life Highland facilities for washing for £40 a week.
Since then, several campsites have come together to voice their outrage at this — and last week were able to sit down with Highland Council members to discuss this.
However, campsite owners have now said that although The Highland Council promised to listen, ‘they insist that they are going to continue to further develop their scheme despite our feelings.’
Speaking about the meeting Darren Redfern of Dornoch Caravan and Campsite said: “Nine out 12 of [Highland Council] car parks lie within one mile of an existing campsite.
“In fact, two of their car parks are situated against the boundary of a caravan park.
“One campsite owner told the Highland Council of how he had to close one of his toilet blocks because far too many people were staying in the Highland Council car park and coming in and using the toilets and showers that they had not paid for.
“We believe the Highland Council has not thought through the scheme properly.
“We do not believe that they have properly assessed the fire risk and have not consulted properly with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
“Campsites are required to keep motorhomes six metres apart in order to reduce the chance of fire spreading. There are several other measures that campsites have to follow as well.”
The group of campsite owners across the north also believe that the scheme has been put in place without the proper facilities in place.
Mr Redfern added: “Many running campsites are second and third generation owners and have been around it all their lives.
“We are the experts at hosting motorhomes. It costs hundreds and thousands of pounds to set up a campsite properly and it costs tens of thousands of pounds maintaining all our facilities each year.
“The Highland Council seem to believe they can simply paint a few lines in their car parks and collect the money.”
Dornoch Campsite averaged 50 per cent capacity for April, May and June in 2024 and they estimate that across the same three months there were between 1,000 and 2,000 unfilled pitches on campsites across the north on any given night.
He added: “We are asking the Highland Council to scrap their scheme and instead strongly encourage everyone to use campsites and help us fill our pitches.”
Highland Councillor Ken Gowans was present at the meeting.
He said: “We were looking for a solution in the meeting and the campsite owners were very passionate. We will now take on board and factor in their views for future policies.
“We always try to listen and collaborate in order to find the best way forward and we will continue to do this.
“It wasn’t all the campsites in the north present, so we don’t really know a true representation of feelings.”
Highland Council was contacted for comment.
