Press Release from www.campra.org.uk 27/10/2021

I am sure many of you have heard the name CAMpRA, not the Real Ale organisation but the Campaign for Real Aires in the UK. Formed in 2020, CAMpRA has already achieved great success in facilitating the provision of authorised overnight stops for motorhomes and campervans in the UK.

Today CAMpRA launches their “waste point fund”, they have created a donations page accessed by a donate button on the CAMpRA website and all donations to the fund will be used to support charities and community groups to install waste points (also known by the terms 'CDP', 'chemical toilet disposal point' or 'Elsan emptying point'), so that motorhome and campervan users will be able to easily access authorised places to empty toilet waste.

What is CAMpRA about?
By encouraging and assisting the provision of more authorised short overnight stops, the aim is reduce the pressure on some of the popular motorhome overnight parking places.

CAMpRA believes that many more popular areas are now getting overwhelmed due to both social media coverage and the expanding number of touring motorcaravans in the UK.

Communities who tolerated a few motorcaravans are now complaining about the numbers and lack of facilities, and we are seeing more 'no overnight parking' signs.

You may say this has been tried before, so why is CAMpRA different? Why is CAMpRA having a great deal of success where others have failed to make an impact?

Steve Haywood, Managing Director of CAMpRA UK Ltd, believes it's down to two things:
1) The CAMpRA strict adherence to their beliefs of only promoting the benefits, with no petitions, no confrontation and no complaints, and keeping their campaign focused, even though this does upset some members who want to use their Facebook group as another chat group.
2) Timing, due to travel restrictions after Brexit and lockdown.

So what is CAMpRA campaigning for? Two things:

1) Safe overnight parking areas (Aires) for self contained motorcaravans.

Although we would all like them to be free the reality is we have a long way to go before the UK invests in an infrastructure like France, so we have to accept that most Aires will incur a charge.

We also have to accept that whilst CAMpRA promotes 'no advance booking' most businesses setting up private Aires in the UK will want advance notice and booking. CAMpRA advises these sites that they must allow booking on the day of arrival and preferably not more than 24 hours in advance. These sites are short stay max 48 hours with no camping behaviour.

2) Waste disposal and water points

This is an area that will not only benefit all of us, but will help to reassure local communities that if we park up overnight we are not emptying our toilets in the ditch, dunes, sea or anywhere else that we shouldn’t. By looking at attaching waste points to public toilets, where for a small fee toilet cassettes can be emptied, we are supporting the community.

CAMpRA are advising councils of the desirability of installing a central waste point to service several overnight parking areas and they even have a sign that can be personalised to direct motorcaravans to the nearest waste point.

But their latest initiative, after repeated requests from members, is the launch of their “waste point fund”, they have created a donations page at campra.org.uk/waste-point-fund-donations All donations to the fund will be used to support the installation of waste points, primarily by charities and community groups. 

This is a great initiative and a chance for all UK motorcaravan owners to have a positive impact by making a small contribution, Searchforsites.co.uk have generously offered to fund the first few units to a maximum cost of £3000.

So check out the CAMpRA website see who the leadership team are, read some of the excellent documents in the library, watch the Youtube videos, see over 100 UK Aires in the gallery and most importantly show your support and donate!