Image: Tim Adams, leader of North Norfolk District Council. Credit: Liberal Democrats.
North Norfolk District Council has said they should not have to meet the costs of installing disposal facilities across the district to tackle the problem of motorhome owners dumping waste into public toilets.
At a council cabinet on Tuesday (September 6), it was concluded that North Norfolk taxpayers should not bear the “burden” of providing facilities for campervan and motorhome waste.
Tim Adams, council leader, said: “I feel the costs should be borne by the users of those facilities.”
He added that the council would take on board a recommendation of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee, that all options for campervan waste disposal should be considered.
Nigel Lloyd, portfolio holder for environmental services, climate change and environment, said that dumping the waste in public loos was “a disgusting thing to do”.
Examples of motorhome owners emptying waste cassettes into public drains that run onto beaches were “unacceptable”, he added.
He said it was a difficult problem to resolve and that providing waste facilities was not the answer.
“People who buy these should make their own provision,” he said.
Richard Kershaw, portfolio holder for sustainable growth, said the council received a “negative response” from campsites that had been contacted to see if they would provide a disposal service at their own cost.
Mr Kershaw said it would cost the council more than £10,000 for a station to treat the extra waste itself.
He said: “I don’t think it’s fair that people driving expensive vehicles should burden local taxpayers of north Norfolk with this facility.”
It follows a recent warning not to ‘wild camp’ from North Norfolk District Council amid a rise in complaints of incidents where people are disposing of campervan and motorhome waste in public toilets, which it claims causes damage and blockages.
Cllr. Richard Kershaw said: “The district has a lot of places for you to camp legally with your motorhome or campervan from five pitch certified locations and seasonal sites through to large commercial sites with onsite leisure and retail facilities – so something for everyone.
“All these sites need to provide basic facilities such as water, refuse and wastewater.
“We, therefore, ask that you use these approved campsites rather than “wild camping” when visiting North Norfolk, so we can ensure that the amenity of our permanent residents and communities are respected and that our public toilets can remain open for all, throughout summer.”
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9 comments
We live in Wroxham and stay in a seasonal field every year in Cromer which is this counsellors constituency. The field is extremely well used by hundreds of visitors and is alway full during the Legends Festival. Having spoken on several occasions to the person who rents/runs the site, it is there by the permission of the local council. So make your mind up Mr Adams. You know full well the additional revenue this temporary site brings to the Cromer economy, otherwise you would oppose it. He says, “dumping the waste in public loos was “a disgusting thing to do”. If he wants to be proactive, help to provide appropriate facilities, then this is less likely to happen. Also, if it is a full blown mains toilet facility, there is no difference to people “sitting and flushing” as long as there is no over spill or it is cleaned up.
“Examples of motorhome owners emptying waste cassettes into public drains that run onto beaches were “unacceptable”, he added. I would agree if it were storm drains, but we are all aware from recent news articles that it is legal to discharge a quantity of raw sewage into the sea and I am sure the amount discharged by motorhomes is insignificant compared to “the legal limit”. It is interesting to note that he represents many of the Major tourist towns and villages on the North Norfolk coats which would not survives and thrive without tourism which in turn attracts plenty of additional income to support additional and appropriate motorhome facilities. In fact, I am sure the locals would love and support additional income through the lean seasons. Such a shame that councils and the press are quick to pick up on the slightest negative issue. As they say, Good news does not make good reading!!
I don’t think I could have said it any better Les, As a motorhome owner and frequent visitor to Norfolk, whereupon I spend my hard earned cash at local restaurants, shops and facilities. I have never emptied a waste cassette in a public toilet but I can’t see the problem, but who knows, it sounds like this guy has just got a bug up his backside about tourists and that’s a shame because everyone will just stop coming to Norfolk like they have Lincolnshire and instead spend their dosh elsewhere.
I live in the South West. Should we be telling all tourists to take their toilet waste home, so that South West Water customers don’t have to pay to treat the waste from the tourists?
Develop sites Mr Kershaw, charge for the waste disposal, add to the income of local businesses these travelling tourists bring.
So North Norfolk business doesn’t appreciate the extra revenue bought to the area by motorhomes? and campervans? Many drivers of self contained vehicles prefer to stay local to amenities and put money into the local economy. There are funds available from organisations such as CAMpRA that help sponsor business and charity to set up waste points. Such a shame local business and tourism will suffer
The Majority of Motorhome owners, are RESPONSIBLE People. It is a Minority of ‘I will do as I please’, or ‘Newbies’ to motorhoming who are giving everyone a bad reputation.
Quotes from the article;
North Norfolk District Council has said they should not have to meet the costs of installing disposal facilities across the district to tackle the problem of motorhome owners dumping waste into public toilets.
At a council cabinet on Tuesday (September 6), it was concluded that North Norfolk taxpayers should not bear the “burden” of providing facilities for campervan and motorhome waste.
Tim Adams, North Norfolk District Council leader, said: “I feel the costs should be borne by the users of those facilities.”
He added that the council would take on board a recommendation of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee, that all options for campervan waste disposal should be considered.
Nigel Lloyd, portfolio holder for environmental services, climate change and environment, said that dumping the waste in public loos was “a disgusting thing to do”.
“People who buy these should make their own provision,” he said.
Richard Kershaw, portfolio holder for sustainable growth, said the council received a “negative response” from campsites that had been contacted to see if they would provide a disposal service at their own cost.
Mr Kershaw said it would cost the council more than £10,000 for a station to treat the extra waste itself.
He said: “I don’t think it’s fair that people driving expensive vehicles should burden local taxpayers of north Norfolk with this facility.”
In response to Cllrs’ Tim Adam, Nigel Lloyd, and Richard Kershaw statements above. Motorhomes are self-sufficient units, only requiring waste emptying every 3-4 days, along with fresh water refills.
There is no difference to what we put into our Cassette toilet, to that which every householder does in their home toilets, or in public toilets, when out and about. (unless a motorhome owner has used baby wipes or non biodegradable )
We immediately see this Council do not understand the issues, Cllr Richard Kershaw, states that Council ‘received a negative response’ from Campsite owners, when asking them if they would ‘Provide a disposal service at their own expense’ – What did he expect the answer to be !!
Motorhome owners are WILLING TO PAY a fee to use Caravan Site facilities. IN FACT, there are Caravan Sites in Scotland who, during their winter closed season, ALLOW passing Motorhome owners to use their waste and fresh water refill facilities only, for a small fee. Nothing else is open on site. (This is extra income for the site owners during this period, WIN WIN all round).
This also goes to Council Public Toilet facilities. Install a Chemical Toilet Disposal Point , connected into the sewage system, and CHARGE us Motorhome owners to use it. WE WILL PAY a Small Fee (£5), which can be used towards the up keep of the toilet block in general.
I have just sent a FOI to North Norfolk District Council asking ” How much did it cost the Council to fix the last Public Toilet Blockage they had “? It will be interesting to see the response.
We have spent the good part of the last week in our self built off grid camper doing our bit to help the UK tourism industry get back on its feet. We started at Felixstowe and worked our way up country to the North Norfolk coast. We were horrified to find one of our potential overnight spots newly festooned with fresh signs less than 12hours old stating
“MOTORHOMES AND CAMPERVANS
Welcome to the North Norfolk coast
Did you know this is a protected landscape?
Please Enjoy Respect and Protect the area
Here’s how…
Park in authorised areas only
Dispose of rubbish appropriately
Overnight stays in carparks or laybys are not permitted……”
Well, we certainly did not feel welcomed at all. In fact every site we tried had new signs up saying no overnight camping including all the old sites on an overnight parking app.
So, even though they say we were welcome we got the distinct impression that our ‘expensive vehicle’ was not. We made a hasty detour and got the hell out of dodge before our waste cassette overflowed into public drains that run onto beaches as that would of been totally unacceptable.
We are now writing this from a very welcoming CAMpRA Aires in Cerney Wick in the Cotswolds spending our hard earned wealth in the local shops on local produce.
Sorry Councellor Tim Adams but your constituents will have to miss out and as for the future, your contituancy will be on our ‘area to avoid hit list’ as we vanlifers are very obviously not welcome.
Response from North Norfolk District Council to my FOI re cost to fix the last Public Toilet blockage>
Dear Mr Simpson,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 and/or ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004 – INFORMATION REQUEST
21037
Thank you for your request for information.
The information you requested is enclosed,
The cost to the Council of dealing with a toilet blockage is approx. £70.68
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, you are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use would require the permission of the copyright holder.
How sad that this councillor has such a disregard for the income our trips to his area provide. And I agree that signs as described by Fred above can be very off-putting. We spent 3 weeks last year travelling around Germany and we were so impressed by their facilities. In many car parks, there were one or two spaces for Motorhomes/campers with a self contained waste disposal facility. We were happy to pay for this. What a difference to many places in the UK.