Camping Trade World – Issue 09

THE DETAIL UK MOTORHOME AIRES
▲ Dan Yates of Pitchup.com believes the UK camping industry would benefit from having some European-style ‘aires’.
T
■he United Kingdom
should be seeking to
implement a network
of European-style aires to
provide one night stopovers
for its increasing number of
motorhome and campervan
users, according to the owner
of one of the country’s leading
outdoor accommodation
specialists. Dan Yates, owner
and founder of Pitchup.com
believes there is a gap in the
market for a network of aires
in the UK, which could help to
reduce pressures on overnight
parking and support local
economies.
“Meeting the growing
demand could bring substantial
benefits to communities too,”
said Dan.
“Aires can provide muchneeded
income for farmers in
rural areas, bring cash into the
local economy in towns, and
also ensure that owners of these
vehicles have somewhere safe
and responsible to park.”
The Campaign for Real Aires
(CAMpRA) was established
to lobby for more aires in the
UK, and provides a central
source of information on how
towns and small businesses can
benefit from the year-round
revenue stream by providing
simple overnight parking and
waste points. A spokesman
for CAMpRA said: “British
motorhome owners returning
from Europe ask one question -
‘why does the UK not have the
same aires (motorhome parking)
system as Europe?’
“We are decades behind
Europe and we have a huge
gap in the UK market for
the provision of motorhome
tourism facilities, aires, that will
help keep British motorhomes
and their spending power here,
and attract more European
motorhome owners to this
country.”
The Highland Council
in Scotland pioneered the
use of aires last summer,
when it was believed to be
the first local authority in
the UK to temporarily relax
planning regulations to enable
landowners with suitable sites
to provide continental-style
motorhome stopovers. The
council said it was adapting
to the significant increase of
motorhome ownership in the
UK and the demand for selfcontained
holidays which had
intensified during the Covid
pandemic and which was
creating significant pressures for
safe overnight parking in rural
communities.
And Gwynedd Council
in Wales recently received
funding from the Welsh
Government for its “Arosfan”
project. This will see it
upgrade assets such as public
car parks in six destinations
across Gwynedd to develop a
network of locations that will
create legitimate provision for
‘overnight’ parking and sleeping
throughout the year for the
purpose of motor homes in
the county. In order to support
the local economy, all six sites
will be located within walking
distance to key towns and
destinations, will have basic
services and will operate a
strict 48-hour maximum stay.
It is hoped the sites will be
operational by spring 2023, and
if successful they could pave the
way for more in the future.
A GROWING MOTOR-
HOME POPULATION
The UK’s National Caravan
Council (NCC) said that
16,608 new motorhomes
were registered with
the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency (DVLA)
in the 12 months from 1
July 2020 to the end of
June 2021. This represented
an 8.25 per cent increase
on the previous record,
which was achieved in
the 2018/19 period. The
boom has been attributed
to Covid restrictions on
travel, the ability to carry
out other outdoor pursuits
while on a campervan
holiday, and the
prevalence of WiFi internet
connectivity on sites that
allows people who have
been working from home
to work from anywhere.
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