Walmer petitioning to 'save The Beach from the invasion of motorhomes' (1 Viewer)

[Brains]

An angry Walmer community group is petitioning to 'save The Beach from the invasion of motorhomes'
'People’s lives are being disrupted. If we ask, they say we don’t own the view, but they don’t either'

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/angry-walmer-community-group-petitioning-2163454

 

[Pekepal]

Quite right too. They do pay rates.

 

[JJ]

One of my major Off-Site motorhoming rules is...

Avoid Upsetting Residents.

Decades of experience have taught me that if no one complains, you are left alone.


JJ

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[Coolcats]

This year has been particularly bad in terms of volumes of people I guess, but the proposal does not seem be too draconian, one MoHo discreetly parking/ 'wild camping' is one thing but if much of the road is taken up it causes issues.

The paper's pictures are taken during the day it would be interesting to see the pictures from a night time and most seaside towns have been inundated this year.

"was recommended: that consultation be undertaken on the following proposal - to prohibit motorhomes from parking on Marine Parade and Waterloo Crescent in Dover, the Beach in Walmer, and the Quay, Sandwich between the hours of 10pm and 8am, from 1 April to 30 September annually”.

 

[68c]

It looks like the old parking versus camping debate. Difficult to believe much anti social behaviour takes place in daylight when parking, do believe it happens at night by those overnight camping. The latter is unacceptable and should be reported to the local authorities who will hopefully apply stiff penalties.

 

[sonny]

Then could make more room for those self build campers that are registered as ommercial van's.

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[phillipsheila]

They need an aire

 

[Larrynwin]

A page from app Search for Sites perhaps shows why motorhomes go there with three entries on the seafront.
Need a large aire for that many and the cost of land in Kent is no doubt prohibitive for such a low income operation.
Also shows a 35acre clifftop site nearby in Kingsdown but you have to pay , therein lies the problem, you won’t get something for nothing forever.

 

[SpeedyDux]

“We are concerned about the number of motor homes parking on the seafront.

“People’s lives are being disrupted. If we ask, they say we don’t own the view, but they don’t either. Some of those vans are huge and the people can be very aggressive."

Correct. The residents have no right of ownership in a view. [That is arguably unfair especially if a developer effectively steals your view with a new housing development and doesn't have to compensate you in any way but that's a separate debate.]

Aside from grumbles about litter and difficulty finding a parking space, which may be justified, this boils down to some local residents hating the sight of motorhomes and campervans spoiling their view.

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[Minxy]

I can totally understand their annoyance if they are unable to see the view for days/weeks on end due to large vehicles blocking it but they've got the 'ban' request the wrong way round ... at night they won't be able to see the view and that's when they want to stop MHs being able to park which is stupid ... it won't do a thing to stop the day-time parking which is what is their issue really is but which they appear to not be trying to stop ... the ONLY way to prevent upsetting the residents is a total ban (not that I'm advocating it!).

 

[Pekepal]

A page from app Search for Sites perhaps shows why motorhomes go there with three entries on the seafront.
Need a large aire for that many and the cost of land in Kent is no doubt prohibitive for such a low income operation.
Also shows a 35acre clifftop site nearby in Kingsdown but you have to pay , therein lies the problem, you won’t get something for nothing forever.

View attachment 428536

Absolutely! Spot on!!!

 

[Just smiffy]

Typical council... stop/ban and restrictions.... why don’t they ever see the positive and think let’s put in some facilities and find a disused field for them...

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[DuxDeluxe]

I can totally understand their annoyance if they are unable to see the view for days/weeks on end due to large vehicles blocking it but they've got the 'ban' request the wrong way round ... at night they won't be able to see the view and that's when they want to stop MHs being able to park which is stupid ... it won't do a thing to stop the day-time parking which is what is their issue really is but which they appear to not be trying to stop ... the ONLY way to prevent upsetting the residents is a total ban (not that I'm advocating it!).

Quite agree but it could be argued that the prevention of overnight parking will result in a drop in people pitching up during the day prior to an overnight stop as a natural consequence

 

[BwB]

I notice the article was written nearly two years ago, did anything become of this? Anyone know if restrictions were put in place for motorhome parking?

 

[olley]

A page from app Search for Sites perhaps shows why motorhomes go there with three entries on the seafront.
Need a large aire for that many and the cost of land in Kent is no doubt prohibitive for such a low income operation.
Also shows a 35acre clifftop site nearby in Kingsdown but you have to pay , therein lies the problem, you won’t get something for nothing forever.

View attachment 428536

They restrict motorhomes to 6.5m in length if I read the blurb correctly so no good for many motorhomes.

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[Larrynwin]

They restrict motorhomes to 6.5m in length if I read the blurb correctly so no good for many motorhomes.

Just had a look , limitations on entrance roads max caravan length 6.5m and no twin axle, RVs or large motorhomes, doesn’t state what the max length of a motorhome is .

 

[Pekepal]

Just had a look , limitations on entrance roads max caravan length 6.5m and no twin axle, RVs or large motorhomes, doesn’t state what the max length of a motorhome is .

Wouldn’t take our 6.99m van down there. The roads are impossibly narrow. The site is beautifully situated but very very few level pitches. more suited to camping which is a great shame as lovely spot.

 

[Pekepal]

Have just seen local paper. Evidently this has been an ongoing situation for 5 years and has now reached final decision stage by Kent County Council And is expected to be resolved in near future.

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[Barchetta47]

Hi,

I live a street back from Beach Street which is the subject of the article.

It’s fair to say that the residents on the sea front are quite aggressive in their ‘policing’ of the parking of motorhomes along the seafront. I do park my MH there for the odd night prior to travelling to Dover for the early morning ferry. I park some where secure for my routine parking up. More often than not I return to find an impolite note under my windscreen or a resident ‘offering parking advice’! There have been instances of people having their MH windscreens ‘Stickered’ although I haven’t but some one did warn me it might happen, I put him straight about what would de the consequences!

The photos as displayed do not reflect what was the position prior to this summer. However this year there has been a marked increase in the number of MHs parked during the day. I would have to say if I lived on Beach Street I would not be overly pleased with the current number of MHs turning up every summer day. It may change in a post COVID world. However during the night this falls to maybe 2-4 but often none. I would say from my experience there is very little evidence of anyone staying for more than 1-2 nights. The littering in the photos is the usual morning picture after the seagulls have ravaged all the local rubbish bins. This is most definitely not caused by MH owners.

As regards the potential banning of MHs overnight. This has been out for public consultation which from memory covers the period between 6pm - 8am and is now closed. This will not affect day time parking as currently proposed. In addition there is another proposal to allow overnight MH parking in a car park further along the seafront towards Walmer Castle which currently does not allow overnight MH parking. This proposal is also suggesting the overnight opening of the public toilets associated with the car park.

I’m not convinced that the current proposal will assuage the residents concerns if I’m honest.

 

[Northernraider]

It's always clueless wallopers they interview ." Someone parked a removal van and left on his bike and returned 3 days later". Does he think banning motorhomes will stop that?

These folk need to get a life

 

[mitzimad]

We looked at a spot on one of the apps right at the end of the beach in deal one van was on ramps right outside someone's house we just moved on to a better spot

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[Minxy]

Thanks for the info Barchetta47 it's good to hear from someone 'in the know' locally.

 

[RobL]

It's a public road with no parking restrictions other than the residents side of the road which has double yellow lines.
Although undoubtedly an annoyance to residents nothing they can do about it.