Petition to C&MC Club to provide Aire type accommodation

brucews said:
We were long time members of the CAMC, and have used many CLs to o/n and pump & dump for £5; last year I pressed their committee to tell me why they could not provide the same service that CCC does by allowing 3hrs use of certain club sites' facilities for £7. They tried to put me off by saying it was not allowed in their club rules, and when I persisted for them to specify where in their rules, after a long delay they quoted that their sites are for recreational use only!! Most amusing answer that did not answer my question, and clearly shows they are avoiding to cater for 40% of their membership; I have not renewed my membership this year, and am staying with CCC & wildcamping. :mad1:
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The thing with the CAMC is they are happy with their lot in life and how dare those pesky peasants question or make suggestions ? .More interested in rubbing shoulders with this one and that one who was a director of xyz you know !. More interested in rubbing shoulders with the HRH of nowhere than serving their members full of snobs and two penny millonaires

The only surprise is they haven't started giving each other wind up the arse titles like Commodore.

CAMC are not interested in wild camping ,I get the impression see us as lower classes and irritants

Of course I could be wrong :rolleyes2: and I just have a natural dislike of authority :p

Channa
 
We are members but mainly for the ferries. The petition won't work but good luck anyway. It needs a motorhomer on the board to change policy as sadly it's tailored to Mr Volvo-Estate who is just looking for something to write to the magazine about. I would like to know what specifically have they done for motorhomes since changing their name my guess is absolutely nothing - and why should they when it works well for them.
 
With the exception of a few sites close to town centres most CAMC sites are out in the sticks. I can't see the advantage of using one as a basic aire over a nice wildcamping spot or a CL. The few that are within spitting distance of a town are cramped and usually fully booked anyway.
 
Camc

Doesn’t hurt to sign anyway. Lots of other members may benefit...pester power often gets there eventually.
 
Aires

Been stuck at Remagen the last 5 days waiting for a new toillettenkassettemechanismus (don’t they love long words) to come from uk. There’s a nice Aire here on the Rhine, belonging to the adjacent campsite. Busy weekend, the Aire full, campsite lots of space left. Some overflow from Aire used campsite, many more beetled off elsewhere presumably in search of another Aire...voting with their feeet...or wheels.
No demand eh???
The campsite is nearly 30€, the Aire 12€. More than most (normally 5-8€ or free), but you can use the campsite facilities, showers 0.5€.

On the subject of filling /emptying. Of the various systems I believe the one that provides free emptying/pay for water to be the best and most effective to prevent ‘wild’ tipping and least subject to abuse. Of those that hide drains behind a vertical shutter...I’ve seen a lot broken open and doors jammed, I’ve seen big piles of grit encrusted dried pooh on top of ones with sliding shutters beneath grids. In Europe 1-4 € seems to be the going rate to fill/empty. I’m not quite sure what I would be doing for 3 hours for £7, it only takes 10 mon to fill /empty.

Interestingly some French towns and villages provide a motorhome empty/fill at local sewerage stations...which can serve a number of carpark type Aires in the area...seems to make sense.
 
I don't hold out much hope, like others, but have signed anyway. Maybe they will take notice if enough sign.

I've stayed on French Aires and have found that quite a few are introducing charges now; last year, one was over 10 euros and all I could do was park there as I didn't want the "free" ehu, and the toilets, dump & water were away on the other side of the harbour and didn't need paying for.

On the other hand, I stayed at a lovely little CL last year in the UK which had fresh water, dump & rubbish bin, parked on a "lawn" like a billiard table and 10 mins walk away was a sizeable town, all for the princely sum of £5 a night.

As a solo, I can often get a pitch on a C&CC site for less than a tenner a night, or not much over if I want EHU. CaMC do work out a bit more expensive as they charge a pitch fee as well and you have to have EHU. BUT of course there's showers and washing machines etc which you don't get on French Aires.

The main advantage of the Aire type system is the flexibility - no booking in advance or minimum number of nights, no limits on arrival and departure times.
 
Caz said:
I've stayed on French Aires and have found that quite a few are introducing charges now; last year, one was over 10 euros.
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We were shocked at Aigues Mortes this year - €23 for basically a car park (the mosquitoes were gratuit though).

The thing is, by the time you explore the town you have already run up about €12 or €15 for a few hours; so even if you move on, you are in unlikely to find somewhere else for less than the the amount you would have to pay for the 24 hours.

So it's a nice enough little place but not even close to being as pretty or as interesting as other places. A French motorhomer actually commented to us that motorhomes are not as welcomed down in that area as much as they are in other parts of France. We knew what he meant!
 
Signed but it has as much chance of success as I have of winning the X Factor.

Still, if it ruffles a few stuffy feathers it cant be a bad thing. :D

Aires are never really going to happen here. To many rules regs, vested interest and above all the attitude and respect for Motorhomers is just not what it is in mainland Europe.
 
Those of us who signed the petition will already have received this update from Mark Bevan.

The discussion Mark Bevan refers to has been closed but, though very long, it's worth a read.

The petition was born from the Hayling Island campaign raised in West Beach Hayling Island ban

The Hayling Island ban began enforcement yesterday but their campaign goes on and it's worth looking at their facebook page too. Groupe public Saying NO to the ban on overnight parking on West Beach, Hayling Island. | Facebook

This is Mark's update:


Dear supporters,

Monday 13 August update, the petition hit 2.5k signatures, thank you. I received an email from the C&MC last Thursday, who are aware of the petition. The email from the clubs Public Affairs & Corporate Communications Manager contained an interesting paragraph that I would like to share with you:

"There is arguably scope and demand for another level of stopover, along the lines of a French Aire. However, the establishment of these would have a cost, and there would be planning approval challenges and UK safety requirements (minimum fire safety separation distances for instance) to overcome. It’s worth debating whether the provision of such facilities should be the responsibility of an organisation like the Club, or whether local authorities should provide them (as is the case in some other countries – France and Australia, for instance). There are already some examples of this in the UK, although some of them operate without compliance with the safety separation distances that those same local authorities would insist on if site operators like the Club were to set them up."
If nothing else our petition has raised awareness, so please keep sharing the petition and let's see if we can hit 3k signatures. The more people who sign, the more chance our voices will be heard. Please use the buttons below to share on social media and with anyone else you know who is impacted.

Posting the campaign on Facebook or Twitter only takes a second, but it will mean that hundreds of people see the petition. If you can email the link around as well, all the better - that will allow us to spread the word to people who don’t use social media too.
Parking for Motorhomes similar to the French style of Aire de camping car | Campaigns by You

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Thank you again for signing

Mark

p.s. You might also like to know, that a link to the petition has been posted and a discussion is taking place about it on the C&MC online forum. Not everyone agrees with the petition, and you may find it interesting to read some different views, or even contribute to the discussion. Here is the link Discussions | The Caravan Club
 
C&MC stopping discussion of petition

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Maureenandtom quoted Mark Bevan, who quoted the C&MC thus:
There is arguably scope and demand for another level of stopover, along the lines of a French Aire. However, the establishment of these would have a cost, and there would be planning approval challenges and UK safety requirements (minimum fire safety separation distances for instance) to overcome. It’s worth debating whether the provision of such facilities should be the responsibility of an organisation like the Club, or whether local authorities should provide them (as is the case in some other countries – France and Australia, for instance). There are already some examples of this in the UK, although some of them operate without compliance with the safety separation distances that those same local authorities would insist on if site operators like the Club were to set them up.
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I suspect that the 'minimum separation distance' is the biggest issue here. If you treat aires as campsites, then the minimum separation conditions apply to certification/licensing. AFAICT, this is imposed by planners on an authority-by-authority basis. For example, Cornwall Council sets out its conditions for campsites in document https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/12052074/conditions-for-campsites.pdf, in which it states the maximum pitch density together with the 6m minimum separation, additionally requiring a minimum of 3m clear space between units. AFAICT, aire-de-camping-car-type parking areas can't comply with these rules for campsites...

...However, "aires" are parking places that permit overnighting rather than campsites (which, AFAICT, is why "camping behaviour" is not permitted on most aires) and so should not be governed by the rules for campsites IMO.
 
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