Motorhome parking ban signs 'thrown off cliff'

Signs banning the parking of motorhomes overnight in coastal hotspots have been vandalised and thrown off a cliff.

North Yorkshire Council plans to permanently prohibit the overnight stopping of campervans in Sandsend, near Whitby, and North Bay in Scarborough​.

​An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) was introduced to restrict the vehicles at Sandsend, Royal Albert Drive, and Cayton Bay after the number of motorhomes had reached an "unacceptable level".

​However, the council's consultation on the future of the ban has met with objections and one councillor, Roberta Swiers, said the trial had not been a success.

​"The signs that were put up were ripped down within hours and thrown over the cliff," she told a meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee.

​"So think of the cost of those alone, to be put up and cemented in, only for the same thing to happen before the cement dried, with the signs thrown down the cliffs again. It's actually vandalism."

​Richard Marr, area highways manager for North Yorkshire Council, confirmed that "the plan to carry out the [parking] experiment down Cayton Bay failed due to repeated vandalism and difficulties with getting the signing put up for a period long enough to carry out the experiment".

The council will only be able to use data gathered from Sandsend and North Bay when it makes a decision on the future of the ban next month, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

At the area committee meeting, coastal councillors debated the effectiveness of the scheme, with some stating it had been a success while others said it had displaced the issue of parking to residential streets, resulting in thousands more complaints.

Swiers suggested that "the only result that we can get, certainly in this area and perhaps in other areas, is to use these park and rides, make it official, and direct motorhome users to them."

Marr noted: "There are plans to examine how we identify impacted locations, and rather than a piecemeal approach that pushes parking to the next street, we are considering a wider view to how we deal with motorhomes across the county.

The meeting also heard claims that Cleveland Way walkers had been verbally abused by campervan owners during the summer season.

​​"We need to consider this with the council's tourism department, because there's quite a strong demand from the motorhome caravan fraternity and there are many benefits as well".

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