A town councillor was due last night to call for the creation of an area to allow for the overnight parking of camper vans in the Keswick area.
Cllr Paul Titley had submitted a notice of motion to Keswick Town Council which suggested that members, along with Keswick Tourism Association (KTA), jointly investigate the benefits of establishing an ‘aire’ in the town to accommodate short overnight stays by motorhomes/caravans.
Aires are popular throughout Europe and are mostly located in public parking areas although some are on private land. They allow motorhome and campervan users to stop overnight for free or for a small fee.
“At the moment they (motorhome and campervan owners) just camp willy-nilly wherever they like and they sometimes choose quite unsuitable areas,” said Cllr Titley.
“In the past I have accused rogue motorhome users of being responsible for some of the mess in the woods next to the Theatre by the Lake.
“We either ignore it or try to control it by providing a suitable location for them to park. I am not saying that there is anywhere available at the moment for them to park but at least we should be having a look.”
Cllr Titley has approached the KTA to get involved because the organisation’s social media feeds means that it is corresponding with thousands of visitors and potential visitors and it is possible to ask them what facilities they would like to see provided. He said that chairman Peter Walters and manager Vanessa Metcalfe were willing to get involved.
“I am not the white knight for motorhome owners, I am just trying to solve a problem before it gets out of hand. In Europe they (aires) are everywhere and I was approached by a motorhome user in Keswick who said that we should have one.
“At its most basic it’s just somewhere to park and then you get the level of it being somewhere where you can empty toilets while others have public toilets, showers and electric hook ups. We will start from: ‘Where can we park’ and work up from there.”
The matter was due to be discussed at last night’s town council meeting.
