Council challenged over motorhome parking ban
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A campaigner for motorhome parking is taking North Yorkshire County Council to task after successfully campaigning for the removal of over 300 ‘no overnight parking’ signs in the Scottish Highlands.
“Many of my friends who own motorhomes have expressed their desire to challenge what is seen as anti-motorhome policies of North Yorkshire County Council and Scarborough Borough Council,” explained Andy Strangeway from Pocklington, East Yorkshire.“I believe that there is an unofficial policy to force motorhome owners onto local caravan parks. Not only is this immoral and illegal it also shows a gross misunderstanding of the lifestyle of motorhome owners.”
Andy is now challenging North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) over its Traffic Regulation Order/Temporary Traffic Order (TRO), which prevents motorhomes (referred to as motorcaravans) from parking overnight at 13 locations, including in Scarborough,Whitby and Filey.
The TRO expires on 22 January 2014 but, according to NYCC, it will be extended and possibly eventually replaced with a permanent order. There will be a public consultation before this happens. Andy says the TRO is in breach of fundamental legislation and has therefore requested the NYCC to immediately remove the signs.
However, an NYCC spokesman said: “There is therefore no plan to remove the signage covered by the current temporary orders. (It should however be noted that there is also a certain amount of redundant advisory signage, which is not covered by an order, and is consequently not enforced. It is planned that this signage will be removed).”
The TRO cites the prohibition of “waiting by motorcaravans between 11pm and 7am” on the grounds of “environmental reasons to prevent occupants of motorcaravans depositing waste onto the highway”.
The spokesman told MMM: “The council receives many complaints about motorcaravans parking on-street for a variety of reasons, including numerous complaints from local residents… of waste being deposited on the highway.
“While it is likely to be the minority of motorcaravan users who deposit waste, the council must ensure that local residents enjoy the peaceful use of their property.”
When pressed on how much waste is being deposited by motorhomers compared to other road users, the council’s response was that the “data is anecdotal”. When asked if the order had been put in place to encourage motorhomes to stay at local campsites, the answer was an unequivocal “no”.
The penalty for those in breach of the regulations is £70. To date there have been 16 fixed penalty notices issued.
Andy (pitctured left) advises that if a motorhomer buys a ticket to stay overnight then the TRO cannot be enforced as “to do so would be a breach of contract as per the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 because it is not reasonable to enter into a contract to sell parking space and then issue a Penalty Charge Notice/parking ticket for the said parking place”.
If you want to contact Andy regarding these or any other motorhome parking issues you can email him at [email protected]
Find out more at http://northyorkshireovernightparking.wordpress.com/
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