Keswick Town Council is to explore the possibility of creating an area to allow for the overnight parking of motorhomes.
It follows the raising of the issue by Cllr Paul Titley at the February meeting of the council where he had submitted a notice of motion that suggested the town council along with the Keswick Tourism Association (KTA) jointly investigates the benefits of establishing an ‘aire’ in the town to accommodate short overnight stays by motorhomes/caravans.
He said that he had been approached by two individuals who owned motorhomes who said that the town would benefit from having one.
Aires are popular throughout Europe and are mostly located in public parking areas although some are on private land. They allow camper van users to stop overnight for free or for a small fee.
Cllr Titley said that aires are not camping grounds where you park up and get cooking utensils out and have a barbecue. He said that camper vans were very popular and they were not going to go away. “Either we let them carry on parking willy-nilly all over the place or we charge them and we can charge very good money.”
He said that the parking area had to be within walking distance of the town and said that councillors might like to sit together at a later date and think about how an aire might be serviced in the future.
Cllr Allan Daniels said that there was always going to be people who do not abide by the rules and added that he spoke to people in the caravan club and said it would not go down very well with them. He said motorhomes were heavy and wherever was chosen as an aire would need to have “a decent foundation”.
Cllr Alan Dunn said that he was under the impression that Cllr Titley was considering accommodating the aire on the Crosthwaite Road car park.
He said that he had visited the car park and estimated that it could take four to five motorhomes.
Cllr Dunn said aires in France have five to 20 motorhomes on site and have different levels of service with some having no facilities at all.
Cllr David Burns said that he would be a bit nervous about putting an aire on the Crosthwaite Road car park because it was close to the town’s hospital.
He said that motorhome owners were currently parking up on Longbridge Lane and Church Street.
“The county council put signs up saying no overnight parking and those signs have disappeared,” he said.
“The people who park camper vans in those locations don’t use the facilities in the town. They have barbecues there and are making merry into the early hours.”
“Explore it by all means but a lot of people will say: ‘Not in my back yard’,” said Cllr Duncan Miller. “If you come up with sites then let’s explore it.”
