lobbying your own council

[John H]

although quite prepared to break silly regulations [ you can't sleep in this empty car park ] , we only had to do so on a couple of occasions

While agreeing with most of the rest of what you said, I have to say that if we want to change hearts and minds we have to be like Ceaser's wife and be so far above suspicion that it is unreal. It doesn't help, therefore, if people park up for the night beneath a banning notice.

On a more positive note, it is pleasing to see that there is general agreement for the "gentle" approach. We cannot expect to get fully serviced Aires overnight - lets go for the overnight parking route and, as for the grey-waste disposal dispute that has come up, try asking garages if you can empty both grey and black in their loos. We do and, providing you don't leave a mess they will have no reason to refuse the next person (providing, of course, you buy your diesel at the same time).

 

[John H]

I've just come across this document from Bridgend Council about proposals for dedicated motorhome overnight parking facilities.

It makes interesting reading, they have given serious consideration to the proposal: http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/web/groups/public/documents/report/069787.doc

AndyC

At the risk of being called a cynic yet again, I think that this draft report, as welcome as it looks on the surface, is a prime example of what happens if you don't get the senior officer on your side. It looks to me as if a prominent councillor has asked for a report (very little gets passed through councils without an officer report) and the officer writing it is not too keen (probably on the extra work involved). What makes me say this? Well, the "ordinary" member of the public will see the key headlines but the average councillor will head straight for the section headed "disadvantages" and the inevitable mention of gypsy encampments. You and I may know that gypsies are not going to bother about whether a site is official or not and that making a site official is more likely to put them off than attract them but the mere mention of the threat in a report is enough to make most councillors think there are better things to occupy their time. There is an old adage which is unfortunately true : a councillor who does nothing upsets no-one - and voters who object to things are far more likely to vote than those who support those things. Hence you may get encouraging words from your local councillor but usually these are followed up (as suggested in other places in this thread) by an acknowledgement and a vague promise but very little else. This is why I have suggested approaching the problem from the side rather than head-on with all guns blazing. I'm not suggesting that we do nothing but you don't get anywhere unless you get the people who matter on your side - and that is a lot easier said than done, as I know from personal experience. Good luck, anyway - and I hope I'm wrong about Bridgend.

 

[lebesset]

perhaps the uk is behind on modern methods then ; road run off should not , ever , be run into rivers , and rightly so ...sewer or other disposal method , soak away possibly acceptable ; what runs off a road surface is far more polluting than anything that might come out of my grey tank ; perhaps we are talking about storm drains? a totally different proposition , a definite no-no for disposal , they can and do run into rivers

many years ago when I lived in the uk there were reports that a local factory was allowing run off from their parking to run into the river instead of the sewer ; one of my friends was the local inspector for the river board , and went along with his bucket and wellies to take some samples , but the factory manager took exception and kicked his bucket into the river ... being the type he was he just walked away

result ? the factory manager ended up in court and was convicted of ....obstructing an officer of the river board in the execution of his duties
bet you didn't know there was such an offence
oh , and the river WAS polluted and the run off had to be diverted into the sewer
so these regs ain't new !

 

[Firefox]

Road drainage disposal does vary a lot but for most major roads, and out of town roads, motorways etc the highways drains goes to soakaways, ditches or in some cases holding ponds. There's a lot of filtration though the ground before it ever gets back into water courses so one could make a moral argument in that case it would be OK to empty a grey water tank into such a system.

In towns, housing estates etc there is usually main storm drainage which has been adopted by the local authority or the water company. In many cases this will drain into local rivers after a run of a few miles. For large car parks the water may go through a petrol interceptor which is designed to remove hydrocarbons from surface run off but not necessarily contaminants in a motor caravan grey water tank. In most cases though these will be pretty benign if it is just shower water and washing up and you haven't used a lot of chemicals.

From a practical responsible standpoint rather than any legal one, I'd rather empty a grey water tank in the corner of a field than put it down highway gullies in an estate though, because the filtration through the ground will certainly clean up the water before it gets back into the system.

 

[lebesset]

chemicals in a grey water tank ? I must admit that's a new on to me!
unless you are talking about a bit of biological washing powder !

what chemicals do people put in their grey tanks that wouldn't come into the category of normal domestic usage ?

I certainly don't use any

 

[stirlingb]

Seem to be going a little off topic guys......where does the grey water go?.........sensible initial approach is that we yake the grey water with us if asked.
More and more getting involved .....keep it going

 

[maingate]

Following the posting by Andyc, I fired off an email to Aubrey Green whose email address was given on the link.

I pointed out about motorhomes being self sufficient and parking only would be acceptable (and anything above that a bonus) I also suggested he drop in on this site to get a feel of the sort of people who would be using the facilities (so we will have to keep AJ from posting).

I also gave him some instances where lack of parking (or expensive) for cars and motorhomes is detrimental ie: Bridlington as opposed to Scarborough. The fact that an overnight presence can deter fly tipping and unruly behaviour.

He got back to me quickly and I quote "Thankyou for your contribution to the issue.... I hope that we will have stop over provision for campervans in Bridgend in the near future."

Funding could be easier in this part of the world as it benefits from special grants to the coalfield areas from Europe and the UK.

Time will tell.

 

[Firefox]

Chemicals include detergents, washing up liquid, bleach, tank cleaning fluids etc. Not stuff you'd want to put in a river. But if you use a minimum of those, the contents of your tank are mostly dirt and water which is what is in the river anyway!

 

[maingate]

It depends on the location. In London, the systems are combined in most cases, so it's the same pipes and doesn't matter what goes where.

Road gullies usually go to either soakaways or the main storm drainage. House gullies go into the foul system if it is a back inlet gully next to a wall that the kitchen sink also drains into, but if it is a gulley in a driveway for example it will likely go into the storm system.

You need to avoid emptying your grey water tank into storm drainage. This can end up contaminating rivers.

I don`t think they can be combined systems in London. The last time I lifted a gully cover to have a cr*p there was hell on.

Of course it was Regent Street on a busy Saturday afternoon.

 

[Firefox]

Tieing sheep to trees, pink lights for the raised bed, and impromptu craps in Regent Street.

This is "camping" at it's wildest ....

 

[urbtaf]

Tieing sheep to trees, pink lights for the raised bed, and impromptu craps in Regent Street.

This is "camping" at it's wildest ....

Ups, so its not the WIERD camping forum!!!!!!!! must pay more attention