The £40 motorhome pass for North Coast 500 that would have 'crippling' impact on businesses

An “urgent rethink” has been called for on Highland Council’s £40 motorhome pass that would open its public car parks to overnight visitors.

The British Holiday and Home Parks Association (Scotland) (BH&HPA), which represents around 200 official sites across the country, said the plan “undercut” local businesses and put them at risk – while posing a potential fire hazard given the car parks do not comply with safety regulations.

The £40 pass, which is voluntary and designed to appeal to travellers who want to ‘give back’ to the Highlands, allows motorhomes to park up overnight for free over a seven-day period in 12 car parks and allows holders to access leisure centres to wash and shower.

The pass is considered a way of raising revenue from spiralling levels of motorhome users in the Highlands, particularly on the North Coast 500 (NC500) route.

But the scheme has prompted a furious response from some official sites, which say it poses unfair competition given ‘crippling’ costs faced by the small holiday businesses who must pay rates, energy bills and comply with strict health and safety rules.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has also raised concerns given the lack of fire regulations in the car parks and the close proximity of motorhomes parked up in the spaces.

Sarah Allanson, director for Scotland at BH&HPA, said: “A local authority should not be allowed to use its powers to relax health and safety rules and undercut local businesses. There has been no consultation over the plans to turn council car parks into budget stopover sites for motorhome users and no explanation as to why industry health and safety regulations will not apply to the council-owned carpark scheme.

"There are real fire-safety and environmental risks at stake, in addition to the impact it will have on responsible park businesses and the local people whose jobs rely on them. We will continue our efforts to engage with Highland Council and have requested a meeting as soon as possible.”

Scottish Government guidance states units should be not less than six metres apart in order to help avoid the spread of fire. The BH&HPA said the scheme also posed a potential environmental hazard given that car parks had no facilities for the discharge of toilet waste.

The association said gas safety, which is monitored and managed on regulated parks, would not be supervised on council car parks.

Parkdean Resorts is a member of the BH&HPA and the UK’s largest holiday park business, which operates Grannie’s Heilan’ Hame Holiday Park and Nairn Lochloy Holiday Park in the Highlands area.

A spokesman for Parkdean said: “It’s worrying that this development potentially sets apart local authority spaces from the regulations that all other holiday park operators must adhere to. Risks such as fire and gas management and waste disposal arrangements appear not to have been addressed as the Highland Council opens up its car parks spaces for wider motorhome use. We would readily welcome wider consultation on this issue.”

Almost 30 caravan parks across the Highlands have written an open letter objecting to the proposals given the impact on their businesses. There have been anecdotal reports suggesting that business in regulated caravan parks is down on usual levels this summer in the Highlands - despite high numbers of motorhomes and campers on the roads.

Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing, who served as minister for tourism for six years in the Scottish Government, said: “I hope the Highland Council will work with the existing businesses that provide quality, safe spaces for mobile vans, including campervans.

“The use of car parks will, as the BH&HPA points out, risk breaching laws with regard to fire safety – rules which are rigorously applied to caravan sites. This is unfair to the existing businesses and potentially illegal and unsafe for holiday makers,” added Mr Ewing.

Highland Council has been approached for comment.