By Dennis Amor
Have
your say
CARAVANNERS are outraged after learning they will be barred from
heavily discounted sites at a council-operated caravan park in NSW.
Coffs Harbour City Council has revealed that the $10-a-night sites at the
4.5-star Park Beach Holiday Park, a member of the Top Tourist chain, will
be offered to motorhomers only.
Councillors approved the controversial 12-month trial in a bid to solve
the problem of illegal camping by mainly motorhomers along the city's
foreshores.
"I know we are discriminating against caravans and that this is unfair,"
Mayor Denise Knight said when contacted by Caravanning News.
"It doesn't seem right and I absolutely understand that. But we didn't
want the motorhomes down at the foreshores and we had to come up with a
compromise."
Cr Knight, a former caravanner, admitted that she expected a backlash against the decision to
exclude caravans from the trial.
Asked whether she thought it wrong that motorhomers who had ignored camping
restrictions should now be benefiting more than caravanners who generally
obeyed the rules, she said: "I can understand this, but the problem was to
get the motorhomers off our foreshores."
Cr Knight said illegal camping was a "common problem" on the coast and she
believed the only way to deal with it was to offer them something at a
cheaper rate.
"It is a bit of an enticement to get them away from there," she explained.
Angry caravanner Dave Buchanan from Queensland said it was a slap in the
face and an affront to ban caravanners from the cheap sites, which
normally cost between $31 and $49 a night depending on the season.
And chairman of the 3000-member Australian Caravan Club Tom Smith
commented: "This smacks of blatant discrimination.
"Many of our members regularly visit Coffs Harbour and spend money with
Coffs traders. I’m sure they will think again if they believe the local
council does not welcome them."
He said the club would be making a submission to the council on behalf of
its members.
"Some of them own motorhomes and will be allowed, while their caravanning
friends will be excluded. It doesn't make sense."
Self-contained motorhomes using the 10 discounted unpowered sites will be
allowed a maximum of two nights and will have access to the park's
security gate and dump point only.
They will not be permitted to use other park facilities or services.
Sites will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and will not
be available during the Easter and Christmas school holiday periods.
A council report said the trial would result in 20 percent of the park's unpowered sites being lost to full paying travellers.
It admitted that offering subsidised sites would raise "some concerns"
within the caravan and camping Industry and could result in questions from
local competitors.
"The industry has had a long held desire to see all businesses within the
industry maintain tariffs at sustainable levels," it said.
"The provision of 'cheap' sites underscores the potential of the industry
and creates a negative competitive environment that will stagnate growth
and limit the quality of products and services available to the general
public.
"Generally, council-managed holiday parks have had a stigma attached to
them as historically, they have been responsible for the provision of
lower quality products and services within the industry.
"Park Beach has operated counter to this trend, resulting in the park
being the recipient of many major awards including Best Holiday Park
Resort in NSW 2013."
The report admitted that the provision of discounted camping could have a
negative impact on some full paying guests who would believe they were
subsidising travellers on the cheaper sites.
"Whilst no ratepayer's money is spent within the holiday parks, there may
be a perception within the community that the ratepayers' funds are
subsidising holidays within Coffs Harbour," it warned.
"In any event, any loss of profits from the holiday park operations are
funds that cannot be used for improvements within the wider State Park,
and council funds will be required to make up any shortfall."
It raised the issue of segregation, observing: "Once inside the park it
will be difficult to identify which guests have full access to all
facilities and which guests are ostensibly paying a 'site only' fee.
"This may create some operational issues, particularly if a full paying
guest takes exception to subsidised guests accessing park facilities," it
said.
The council now plans to address the issue of illegal camping on all
reserves under its control, including the Jetty Foreshores. It will
also lobby the State Government to introduce statewide rules on RV
camping.
