Dover Seafront parking. (1 Viewer)

[GWAYGWAY]

The Facebook page for the Dover for Dovorians page shows a load of MH's parked on the grass of the park at Camden Crescent on the seafront.
I do not know who or why they were there but they might be Irish plates and you know who. It has however really stirred up the MH Haters in the town and the vitriol is pouring out Hang'em, shoot'em, leaving piles of rubbish etc Sh*t everywhere. I had a look and could not see any trace. There were hover 12 vans parked outside the flats and they are living on borrowed time as the wardens will be out early especially after the fuss over the grass parking.

 

[Allanm]

Had a look through the facebook page but couldn't see the article you were referring to. It was interesting though that I could not see any of the residents criticising motorhomes parked along the front, in fact some were saying they liked them being there.
The cynical part of me could think this could just be the press trying to sell papers and local council just making up excuses to put yet another ban on people enjoying themselves?

 

[PeteH]

The cynical part of me could think this could just be the press trying to sell papers and local council just making up excuses to put yet another ban on people enjoying themselves?

About right, for the attitude of most L_A`s today. Stuffed with "Nimby`s" and "Jobs-worths", waiting for their "Brown envelopes". I understand, the use of the "Esplanade" for overnight pre Ferry parking is now Barred as well.?

Pete

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[GJH]

The cynical part of me could think this could just be the press trying to sell papers and local council just making up excuses to put yet another ban on people enjoying themselves?

I've no idea about the press but the local council, through the Dover Joint Transportation Board, is actually in the process of to satisfy all parking needs.

 

[GJH]

About right, for the attitude of most L_A`s today. Stuffed with "Nimby`s" and "Jobs-worths", waiting for their "Brown envelopes".

Hardly surprising that some might have that attitude when they are the subject of such thoughtless insults is it?
Closer to the truth is that LAs have to balance the needs of the population as a whole. That upsets some individuals whose wants are rejected because everyone but they can see that they are against the overall public interest but that is part of life.

 

[PeteH]

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[scotjimland]

About right, for the attitude of most L_A`s today. Stuffed with "Nimby`s" and "Jobs-worths", waiting for their "Brown envelopes". I understand, the use of the "Esplanade" for overnight pre Ferry parking is now Barred as well.?

Pete

nice day for fishing..

 

[GJH]

nice day for fishing..

Just the same old, worn out, record that's been played time after time Jim.

 

[scotjimland]

Just the same old, worn out, record that's been played time after time Jim.

I had noticed..

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[Allanm]

I've no idea about the press but the local council, through the Dover Joint Transportation Board, is actually in the process of to satisfy all parking needs.

About time too, that certainly is good news

Hardly surprising that some might have that attitude when they are the subject of such thoughtless insults is it?
Closer to the truth is that LAs have to balance the needs of the population as a whole. That upsets some individuals whose wants are rejected because everyone but they can see that they are against the overall public interest but that is part of life.

I understand that, but they assess needs and use regulations based on the the way the world was decades ago. Things need to change.
With the recent news of a 50%+ increase in motorhome sales in recent years in the U.K, if L-A's thinking doesn't change, towns and cities are going to be clogged with trippers trying to park their increasing number of m/homes as close to shops/ places of interest as they can.

 

[GJH]

I understand that, but they assess needs and use regulations based on the the way the world was decades ago. Things need to change.
With the recent news of a 50%+ increase in motorhome sales in recent years in the U.K, if L-A's thinking doesn't change, towns and cities are going to be clogged with trippers trying to park their increasing number of m/homes as close to shops/ places of interest as they can.

With any capital asset that requires significant investment to build/alter it is not surprising that its life is measured in decades. Motorhome ownership is increasing bu at the same time car ownership is increasing - an increase of about 600,000 last year alone, which is far more than the total number of motorhomes in the UK. That means that as well as dealing with increased demand for parking spaces from motorhome owners, councils have to deal with a larger increased demand for parking spaces for cars. Given the numbers involved it is more likely that much of the clogging up of towns and cities is likely to be caused by cars, not motorhomes.

 

[gus-lopez]

Motorhome ownership is increasing bu at the same time car ownership is increasing - an increase of about 600,000 last year alone, which is far more than the total number of motorhomes in the UK. That means that as well as dealing with increased demand for parking spaces from motorhome owners, councils have to deal with a larger increased demand for parking spaces for cars. Given the numbers involved it is more likely that much of the clogging up of towns and cities is likely to be caused by cars, not motorhomes.

Might have to go down the , " no off road parking space ?" then you can't have a vehicle. Just like the Japanese do. Something certainly needs to be done in the Uk as most of thr southern part of the country has a slower travel speed than when I was a teenager. It is barely 2 cars away from total grid-lock most days.

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[DavidG58]

Of all the places to stop in the UK it beats me why anybody would chose Dover

Not used it yet but the Canterbury parking option sounds ideal, although you have to pay which might be the key maybe

I am making an assumption that most if not all are on their way to a ferry, surely a better option is to get on board and stay somewhere over in France

or am I missing something about Dover, some hidden secret attraction?

 

[PeteH]

Might have to go down the , " no off road parking space ?" then you can't have a vehicle. Just like the Japanese do. Something certainly needs to be done in the Uk as most of thr southern part of the country has a slower travel speed than when I was a teenager. It is barely 2 cars away from total grid-lock most days.

AND. if you think that is bad. Try finding a place to do a "Tacho-Break" bad enough when I was still at it, even worse Now!. In fact I never park in Lorry bays. (but have been known to pinch an Empty Coach Bay!, Car, Caravan with "blue badge" VERY Naughty!! but I avoided having to Pee in a car park!.)

 

[PeteH]

Of all the places to stop in the UK it beats me why anybody would chose Dover

Not used it yet but the Canterbury parking option sounds ideal, although you have to pay which might be the key maybe

I am making an assumption that most if not all are on their way to a ferry, surely a better option is to get on board and stay somewhere over in France

or am I missing something about Dover, some hidden secret attraction?

I go back a Fair way. And before the Canterbury "facility" at that, we used to book the very early (Cheapest) ferry(s), Park on the esplanade Overnight and Bingo!, quick exit and onto the ferry, and "en route" to "Frogland" an Hour later, hence South for some Sun and Sangria.

Pete

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[gus-lopez]

AND. if you think that is bad. Try finding a place to do a "Tacho-Break" bad enough when I was still at it, even worse Now!. In fact I never park in Lorry bays. (but have been known to pinch an Empty Coach Bay!, Car, Caravan with "blue badge" VERY Naughty!! but I avoided having to Pee in a car park!.)

East europeans just stop anywhere. Normal place is to the left of the bridge supports on the motorways. Even seen Brits doing the same lately. Most parking areas here in Germany state "no lorries 6am to 8pm" but none take any notice ,nor do they on parking in the car areas.

 

[gus-lopez]

Don' t ask me how the quote above got attributed to
DavidG58 ??

 

[TerryL]

We tend to cross late afternoon and stop on the French side - Wissant if going south, Gravelines if going east - after refuelling and any stocking up we need to do at Auchan. We think it's nicer to start afresh in the morning. We have used Canterbury several times if our timings work out that way and we certainly don't begrudge the £3 it costs.

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[Dorwyn]

Of all the places to stop in the UK it beats me why anybody would chose Dover

We parked outside the Marina restaurant earlier this year, had a very pleasant meal and glasses of, rolled out into the van right by the door. Good night's sleep, beautiful morning sunrise across the harbour. Caught the ferry 2 hours early. What's bad about that?

 

[Dorwyn]

We parked outside the Marina restaurant earlier this year, had a very pleasant meal and glasses of, rolled out into the van right by the door. Good night's sleep, beautiful morning sunrise across the harbour. Caught the ferry 2 hours early. What's bad about that? Woops, double posting

 

[Allanm]

I suppose people can't always get to Dover in time to catch a late afternoon ferry which would give them time to find somewhere in France to spend the night. There's nothing particularly nice about Dover except the castle and a few other buildings that are worth a visit, and you can park in the day along the seafront.
I am on the mailing list, and a member of Camping Car Park, a French company that is opening more and more commercial aires all over France. They are good value, well maintained and in sought after places.
It would be great if they started looking at building aires in the UK and give a kick up the backside to all the ditherers who say they aren't commercially viable.
Someone must be making a fair bit of cash or there wouldn't be so many of them

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[DavidG58]

We parked outside the Marina restaurant earlier this year, had a very pleasant meal and glasses of, rolled out into the van right by the door. Good night's sleep, beautiful morning sunrise across the harbour. Caught the ferry 2 hours early. What's bad about that?

nothing bad at all, but yours is possibly the only post I have ever read where the parking was in conjunction with using local eateries, the rest are apparently simply parking, why not just use a lay by beside the A2, or the docks

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Had a look through the facebook page but couldn't see the article you were referring to. It was interesting though that I could not see any of the residents criticising motorhomes parked along the front, in fact some were saying they liked them being there.
The cynical part of me could think this could just be the press trying to sell papers and local council just making up excuses to put yet another ban on people enjoying themselves?

The poster was Marc Stanley on the 10/9 on Dover for Dovorians , I went down to see the place it was and the more I think about there is only one group of people who would have the absolute cheek to park there and they are you know who. The vans were parked in a group with some cars and caravans, not the usual size of a group of unconnected MH's

 

[GJH]

It would be great if they started looking at building aires in the UK and give a kick up the backside to all the ditherers who say they aren't commercially viable.

Who are "they" and where do they get the land and the money from?

Someone must be making a fair bit of cash or there wouldn't be so many of them

If that is the case then why aren't private businesses falling over themselves to open aires?

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[Chas17]

nothing bad at all, but yours is possibly the only post I have ever read where the parking was in conjunction with using local eateries, the rest are apparently simply parking, why not just use a lay by beside the A2, or the docks

I park adjacent to the Hythe Bay Sea Food Restaurant, always have a meal there before a good nights sleep and next morning ferry. I have always been made very welcome.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

It would be great if they started looking at building aires in the UK and give a kick up the backside to all the ditherers who say they aren't commercially viable.
Someone must be making a fair bit of cash or there wouldn't be so many of them

Who are "they" and where do they get the land and the money from?

If that is the case then why aren't private businesses falling over themselves to open aires?

Motorhomers are still a tiny minority in this country. Take the ones that will only ever stay on club sites out of the numbers and it's an even smaller minority. It's doesn't matter how many new ones were registered last year or this year. It's not enough to change that.

France is a huge country with lots of space - land is cheap. Britain is a tiny overcrowded island. Land anywhere useful is prohibitively expensive, especially for this type of project where the returns are

A big chunk of the people who are whining that LAs should be "compelled" to provide facilities here are the freeloader brigade that think they have some sort of divine right to park wherever they want without paying. How many of these people do you think would pay £10 or £15 a night to stay on a commercial aire?

The target market for such facilities would be the people who currently use CL/CS type facilities and they only thing that could make an aire more attractive to those people would be location i.e. rather than a CL a couple of miles out of town they might be persuaded to use an aire in the middle of town.

I've just had a quick look at land so here's a quick back of the fag packet example:

There's a piece of land for sale in Kettering in what would be pretty much an ideal spot for a French style town aire. You could probably get half a dozen vans on it as long as it was treated as an aire, not a CS. It's available for £65,000. Being very generous and assuming that there were 4 paying vans on it for 200 nights a year, paying £5 each, it would take 16 years and 3 months to recoup the initial cost of the land. That's before you even think about putting any services in or carry out essential maintenance. Head out into the villages around here, which are obviously much nicer places to visit, and you can easily double, probably triple, the cost of the land.

That, I'm sad to say, is not a good business opportunity for anyone and I've got to say I wouldn't be very happy if the council chose to spend my council tax money on it either. This is by no means an expensive part of the country either.

I've not even mentioned planning issues.

 

[TheCaller]

Of all the places to stop in the UK it beats me why anybody would chose Dover

Not used it yet but the Canterbury parking option sounds ideal, although you have to pay which might be the key maybe

The only problem with Canterbury as a pre-port stopover is that it shuts at 8.30pm. That's at least 3 hours of relatively traffic free driving time wasted.

I am making an assumption that most if not all are on their way to a ferry, surely a better option is to get on board and stay somewhere over in France

Absolutely - if the timings work.

or am I missing something about Dover, some hidden secret attraction?

It's biggest attraction is that's where the boat is. You are already past (almost) all the potential traffic problems before you stop for the night, so no worries about missing your sailing (as long as the alarm goes off ). It's also handy if you come off a late/early boat & need a sleep before a long UK drive.

I drove all the way along Marine Parade & The Esplanade last week at about 10pm. I can well see why the property owners at the Marine Parade end get a bit fed up, because they have big ground floor windows looking at a wall of motorhomes, rather than the sea view they thought they had paid for. There were only a few vans parked at the other end, by the marina, where there was nobody's view to spoil.

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[Viennese]

Of all the places to stop in the UK it beats me why anybody would chose Dover

or am I missing something about Dover, some hidden secret attraction?

Well I've always wanted to look at the Castle and the wartime tunnels, but there's never time when using ferries...

 

[GWAYGWAY]

All over the place it is difficult to go and stop to see the places we go to. plenty of big carparks etc but the councils seem to take delight in putting height bar up and making it impossible to stay anywhere. Are they really that worried about the travelers (not holiday makers) from invading, Because the authorities might want to stop them, but they come anyway and they know that it is difficult to get rid of them. Ireland seems to have removed a large number by being harder on them so they come over here.

 

[GJH]

All over the place it is difficult to go and stop to see the places we go to. plenty of big carparks etc but the councils seem to take delight in putting height bar up and making it impossible to stay anywhere. Are they really that worried about the travelers (not holiday makers) from invading, Because the authorities might want to stop them, but they come anyway and they know that it is difficult to get rid of them. Ireland seems to have removed a large number by being harder on them so they come over here.

Height barriers are not always put in to stop travellers. Often enough it is to stop commuter/shopper car parks being clogged up with commercial vehicles and/or because the car park is otherwise unsuitable for large vehicles.
As regards travellers, though, hopefully the current government will not be too distracted by other matters and will still be able to find time to legislate to make it easier for unauthorised encampments to be broken up.
It obviously depends, to an extent, on which places people go to. However, in over 10 years of owning a van we've found it possible to visit most places using a combination of sites, parking and public transport. Even in those places where off street parking is difficult/impossible, on street parking can be used.

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