Bloody daft councils

[peterc10]

Dear me. How many times does it take, repeating the point, to get through? As mentioned before this subject - and the USP - has been discussed in numerous threads previously. What is the problem with looking back at those threads and actually learning? The USP is not for attracting people to Canterbury itself but provides the justification for investing in the motorhome facilities in the first place. The proximity of Dover and the tunnel are the attractions for motorhome owners and that does not apply to the vast majority of local authorities in the UK.
If that is patronising it is because I am suck and tired of repeating the same thing to people who complain about lack of facilities but can not be bothered to do anything to change the situation, or even to establish the facts. Enough said, I'm out.

Just because somebody disagrees with your opinions, does not mean that they are always wrong and you are always right. Opinions are just that, opinions. We are all entitled to have them.

And, in my opinion, I don't see why I should spend the precious time I have left trying to persuade local authorities to do things that would benefit their own communities, like encouraging visitors like us to visit their (dying?) town centres. Especially so when it appears, from your own efforts, which I fully recognise and applaud, it is like wading through treacle. Instead I would much rather spend my time in my motorhome enjoying and using the facilities that more forward thinking local authorities have already decided they need in order to attract visitors like me to help keep their villages, towns or cities alive. And we always spend money in the locality when using those facilities. The last time we visited the Canterbury P&R (a couple of months ago) we spent a couple of nights there and I reckon we spent over £200 in various businesses in the area.

It is just a shame that, with a few notable exceptions like Canterbury, most of those forward thinking local authorities are not in the UK. As an example. Last autumn I spent a couple of weeks visiting the section of the Mosel between the French border and Koblenz. It was a beautiful historical area, but probably no more beautiful or historical than some parts of the UK. As is usual we had no set itinerary, we just followed our noses. We could do that because almost without exception every town and village had a Stellplatz for motorhomes, mostly run by the local authority. Most were convenient to the town or village facilities and many directly fronted onto the river. And that is largely why we visited the area rather than struggling to do the same type of tour around somewhere in the UK.

It seems to me that when many UK local authorities see an increase in motorhome based tourists in their area they see it is a problem that should be solved, usually by discouraging them. In other parts of Europe they seem to see it as an opportunity to be exploited.