Going, going, ???? ... is free camping in danger?
In what may be a sign of things to come, a free overnight rest stop for caravanners has been closed in an effort to help support local businesses in the wake of the economic carnage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following a presentation from a local caravan park, the Shire of Plantagenet in southern Western Australia has voted to close its recreational vehicle parking area in Mount Barker for at least six months.
The ABC reports that the park owner argued the free bay was taking business from his site on the Albany Highway, which was already doing it tough because of coronavirus travel restrictions.
“All of the caravan parks in Plantagenet have been experiencing a hard time during the pandemic,” said Shire chief executive, Rob Stewart. “With the borders opened up again, we expect to see a lot more people on the road and we don’t want to get in the way of business.”
The parking bay opened in 2014 to allow overnight stays rather than letting travellers continue on to Albany, 50 kilometres away, or park on the side of the highway, but it was met with opposition from caravan parks.
Since last week’s council vote, two caravans and their occupants have been moved on from the site.
“We’ve moved at least two vans on; they understood it, especially when we talked about why with Covid-19,” Mr Stewart said.
However, the ABC reports that some travellers said they would now not stop in the town, instead heading to nearby towns that offered free overnight bays.
Mr Stewart said the council would re-look at the closure later this year.
“In November or December, we’ll have another look at it, see how it’s going and see what sort of submissions we’re getting,” he said. “By having the overnight caravaners, they get in touch with us, they talk to us about fuels, provisions and spare parts they buy in town … so we don’t want it to negatively affect other business.”
I have been through the town of Barker a few times traveling past one of the caravan parks and I am sorry to say even then there was hardly anyone staying there other than permanent people. This was not recently either. Now this will mean more loss of trade for shop owners
Christine, I was about to make a similar comment. Also the few times that I stayed at this caravan park I was not impressed with the attitude of the owner.
Well said , there are other camps around this area we use . Unfortunately this attitude costs local businesses.
We only stay in free or low cost spots as we r fully self contained. I think people will keep driving.
Sad for the other business who will lose out because travelers like myself will just go on to Albany. We always stop and have something to eat in the town and go to the locals. Now just go on. I always thought just one overnight stray was too short. we would get Chinese or fish n chips and stuff from the Grocery Store as it’s a local business. Maybe in the future.
Once again submitting to the caravan park.. The other businesses will also miss out now.. On principle I won’t go to that park now and I live in the sw
You just took lots of money out of the Mt Barker community. Some of us can either afford a caravan park or eating out in the local shops, but nit both. I really dont believe that caravan parks suffer that much. Leave us the overnight spots please. I would stay there then eat in the town.
Again a simplistic attitude by a council and certain caravan park operators that do not understand the freedom camping nomad. I am not into free camping myself as my caravan is not set up for freedom camping but i do not believe that freedom campers will utilise a caravan park because you stop them from camping in your shire. Instead all that will happen is that they will not stop in that area and subsequently will not support any other business in that area, so it is not just the caravan park that doesn’t get their business it is all the other businesses that miss out. The caravan park operators need to speak with their state government representative and ask why are our state borders still closed, it is the governments that are causing these issue with their greed to grab extra power and until the people start to understand this and start to make their displeasure known to these idiot politicians then unfortunately nothing will change.
And you all shop at the local grocery stores do you?
I bet you don’t when there is Coles and Woolies in Albany.
Travellers do like to shop in smaller towns. The IGA in Mt Barker is a fabulous place to shop with reasonable prices.
Rob79, i don’t know about you but my view is a simple one, my wife and i choose to stay in the smaller towns at caravan parks, because if you read my post above you would have seen we are not equipped to free camp. In addition we shop at the local shops, and the reason is very simple, because one day when the chips are down and you have a breakdown or require something in an emergency and it happens in a small town, I hate to inform you they will not be open for your benefit. There are more than enough people supporting the Coles and Woolies that they do not miss my $$, and to most of my experience the Freedom Campers also do similar things, so I would suggest that you do some research before making these unfounded comments.
Rob79, I suggest that maybe you contact Richmond in Qld and speak to them about how the Freedom Campers support their town and what they do for the Freedom Campers. In Richmond the local caravan park sends a bus out to the free camping site and invites the Freedom Campers to come in and share some of the experiences they put on for their caravan park clients. This is the best example throughout the country of where both caravan park operators, council and freedom campers work together in unison to the advantage of all concerned. The trouble with most councils and caravan park operators they can’t see the forest for the trees.
I think you meant Julia Creek. The stats taken from shopper dockets at that free camp showed there is over $500,000.00 spent annually by the free campers.
Geoff, absolutely correct, both places are well worth the st stay over.
yes, I make a point of shopping in small towns for supplies. I also get fuel there and visit coffee shops. I will not use caravan Parks..I would rather stay home.
If we all went to the caravan park we wouldn’t all fit
Over the last couple of days we planned our trip north. Our first stop was to be at the Mt Barker RV camp. Now our first stop will be Kattaning. When we stay in a town for free/low cost we always spend money to say thankyou & show our appreciation. We wouldn’t even consider the van park. It’s just not who we are.
Do your research council. Look at other towns who allow overnighting and the business it brings to local businesses other than the caravan park. E.g. Kimba in SA who have a donation box and the publican picks up people on Friday night and takes to pub for dinner. They have doubled the space recently. Many including myself will bypass you. I prefer small communities to big towns and always buy in them and make the point of telling shop why I am. there. Now days people buy self contained RVs to freecamp. Most are mature people who don’t want pools and jumping castles. Please reconsider for the sake of ALL your local businesses.
No free camps = just keep driving on
They might wake up when the whole town realises there is no money flowing
We prefer to support the businesses in Mount Barker , love the town, but wil now continue through to Albany. Such a shame.
Rob 79 Those businesses employ local people, so if they don’t have customers they can’t afford staff then the whole town suffers because the locals will look elsewhere for employment
I respond to incentive rather than coercion. I can afford caravan parks but prefer the free camping experience. I think its about the freedom and also no deadlines to get to a booked site. So in my case I would keep peddling to the next available free camp.
As a fairly regular visitor to this area I can state there are both free campers and caravan park only campers and closing this free overnight camp won’t force the free campers into parks. They’ll simply move on to the next free camp.
Hey local council in Mt Barker instead of trying to herd everybody into the caravan park because they are bleating about lack of business bought about by their exorbitant rates put some pressure on your local state member to open the borders.
Big mistake! More than ever l think travellers like me who are self contained will bypass towns that have no RV parks because we want to spread our money around to as many businesses as possible. Everyone has suffered economical loss not just caravan parks. Older people like me don’t need jumping castles and other attractions, just somewhere safe to park up for a day or two to explore the area and spend a bit of money
We visited friends in Mt Barker last trip, and as we tow car behind bus, chose not to clutter street outside their house for night, so went to freecamp. We found in morning we had a flat tyre. The guys across the railway track fixed for us, saving my husband a lot of grief. We paid, spent money at a few shops also.
We really enjoyed looking around Mt Barker and will look around again but not stay anymore. We are totally self contained so caravan parks aren’t going to give us anything we need. The tyre place and shops did provide us and we happily paid. Sorry you have done this Mt Barker. For you, not us
Make sure that this information is made widely available like say on Wikicamps app and is easy to access. This will generate massive pressure on the shires that try to extract our money by coercion and also reward the shires that have a more progressive attitude. A big stick works both ways and there is way more of us than there is of them.
Hey all you lot with the chips on your shoulders, yes you, the grey haired ones. Seems to me that the only people hurting the local businesses in this town are the ones that are making a conscious choice to ‘just keep driving’. If you’re all so intent on helping these communities get ahead by spending your $$$ , why don’t you detour into the town , spend some money, then get back to your ‘just keep driving’ onto the next town. You can prove your point about how Nobel you are by splashing your cash, and keep moving all at the same time. Think how good that will make you feel, unless of course, your sole intentions are to hold innocent business owners to ransom for decisions not made by them? Are you all so sour and set in your ways, unable to exercise some discretion? One business manages to convince council to turn a decision around for 6months, and you’re all ready to throw a whole town under the bus! Get a grip, and act you age.
Jeff, what you fail to understand is if the freedom campers continue to support the other businesses the stupid council believe they have made the right decision. The only weapon the freedom campers have is to withdrawal their cash and demonstrate to the other businesses in town that if you take away their choice then they will find somewhere else that appreciates what they have to offer. That way these businesses can put pressure on the idiotic councils to reopen these sites. Ooh Jeff whilst we are at it be careful who you insult because somewhere down the track you will need one of these “grey haired ones” and they may just remember you another point is unless you are like me and not have much hair you will probably eventually be one of them. Have a good day.
I think you are the one with the chip on your shoulder! We have stayed at plenty of proactive towns providing free or low cost alternatives to caravan parks, some with caravan parks in their towns & everyone gets a bit of the cash pie. You clearly cant get a grip on that a lot of travellers these days don’t need what caravan parks provide as their vehicles are built to provide all that is needed.
Your comment that some travellers who wont stop & spend are holding these businesses to ransom is just crap!
If these businesses were so concerned, why didn’t they rally against the decision, as it appears the only complaint was coming from the local caravan park!
We will continue, as we have for the past couple of years, stop & spend where & when we need too, and we will be heading down that way soon, we may or may not stop there, but I certainly won’t feel compelled too.
Steady on Jeff.
The point people are making is that when they stop for the night (or two) they will use that opportunity to buy stuff, eat at pubs or restaurants etc. if there’s no low-cost place to park for the night, they will keep moving until they find one, and spend their money there.
It’s not about boycotting.
In any case, businesses should have a go at their council to have such decisions overturned.
why do caravan parks have the power to decide where people can and cannot camp . i like to camp away from people other wise i might just as well stay home bring on the free camping
Its your council who threw the whole town under the bus.
Bad decision Council. Wont see us again.
The council tried to shut free parking way before the pandemic
Good bye Mt Barker
We have always spent money in your town
But now see how quick towns were to shun and now gouge travelers
We will go where we are welcome without high fees for a parking spot
I think a $2000 registration surcharge should be added to all Caravan owners to support caravan parks which have been impacted government regulation by closing the state border.
You are clearly delusional to think that RV owners should pay some sort of subsidy to keep caravan parks in business!
John, on what logic do you base this stupid idea, do we charge all shoppers an extra $2000.00 for the retail shops that had to close during this thing. To quote a famous person “YOU CANT BE SRIOUS”.
There was a huge response on Facebook – almost all saying the same things – as a bad decision for the town!!! Until caravan parks charge a realistic fee for over-nighters who only “hire” a patch of dirt but use NONE of the CP facilities – we will seek out free RV friendly camp towns but NOTE that we will still patronize the towns!!!
I sent the council a link to this article and the comments section.
Another all-together pathetic business model
supported by local government, which can never
rise above imposing it’s will by duress and coercion
rather than extending hospitality standards.
Local Government (referred to as Councils or Shire Councils), do not have the power to prevent temporary refuge on Crown Land (as defined by The Crown Land Act 1989: Crown land is land that is owned by the Commonwealth or State Government. It includes: Lands within the Crown public roads network, Lands held under lease, licence or permit, Lands retained in public ownership for environmental purposes, Crown reserves and other unallocated Crown land. It does not include national parks or state forests), or have their costumed representatives issue “move on” orders and any such claim or any attempt to force me to vacate any Crown Land will require certification that the claimed law has in fact been lawfully enacted by the Parliament of Australia in the Queen’s name, as it is required to be, subject to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK) which was approved again as a result of the 1999 Referendum, question two.
Similarly, any “move on” orders issued by Police Members, under current Law Enforcement Legislation (Powers and Responsibilities Act 2002), at the request of any incorporated body masquerading as a Council or Shire Council without permissible reasons for issuing such a move on order, (Police may issue a direction to individuals and groups to move away from a certain public place for a certain period of time, only in circumstances where they are about to commit an offence, are creating an obstruction, or are causing ‘excessive anxiety’ to those around them), will be treated as an unlawful use of power and therefore an unlawful instruction.
Trouble is Ray..if you look closely at the constitution it states that the Commonwealth can allow the States to make rules and establish an elected body (councils) to create and pass laws (by laws) and regulations as they see fit.
Ye I have had dealings with the mount barker caravan park looking for somewhere to stay with work .I doubt closing the free over night stay will make any difference in this case other than annoy other local businesses
It can be nice to pull up somewhere for the night and do a bit shopping and get a meal especially as the caravan park is to far away to walk for many of us . Plus Albany is fairly close.
Perhaps the powers at be (Grey Nomads Administration), could put all the above comments together in one submission and forward to the Shire of Plantagenet (Mt Barker) for them to consider all points and the the feelings of us caravanners. It may help them to re consider their decision to close free camping.
Great suggestion Ray. All the comments here are confined within the members of this forum. Whilst it is possible that someone in Mt Barker is a member of this forum, the local council, the caravan park owner and other local businesses in the town will most likely be unaware of the comments expressed above.
Under the guise of a Covid 19 measure we see the usual suspects trying to exert force to use a product that is not wanted or needed by a consumer. The Council has just turned its back on many businesses in the town; one wonders if there is a council interest in the said caravan park. If so, then a conflict of interest exists.
Add the name of my wife and I to the list of travellers based in WA who will bypass this place on principle now.
we came out of a national park in vic and went to the town info to do our dump
we where told that it was taken away as some councilers said we where just bludging on them
my wife informed them that we intende to go back in the park for another week requiring fuel food grog and a look around town ameal and a night stay but if we cant dump why would we support you
we drove on to the next town spent over $500 and drove back through first town to go back to the national park
Hi Terry, did you come over to Mt Barker in West Aus from VIC or Mt Barker in SA?
We have just spent 8 days in a west qld town with 8 other vanners, and including camping fees we spent over $4000, at local business.
No Coles or Woolies just small shops.
We will seek out RV friendly towns
Council Minutes from May clearly state “…temporary closure… until 31st December….”, which means the overnight stop should be legally open from 1st January 2021 unless a motion otherwise is/was approved.
The reason the overnight stop was closed has nothing to do with any other issues or other businesses in Mt Barker. According to Council’s Minutes from May the Council was lobbied by the Mount Barker Caravan Park owners “…to aid in alleviating the economic stress placed on the caravan park caused by Covid-19…”. There may have been other issues relating to the RV Site but they have nothing to do with Council’s decision otherwise they would have been legally minuted.
Grey Nomads need to be aware that the same Caravan Park owner has now lobbied Council (January 2021 Minutes) to “….close permanently or move the free RV Site in Mount Barker….”.
I have no special interest in either the RV Site or the Caravan Park but I do find it wholly repugnant for any person or business to use the tragic pandemic Covid-19 opportunistically as a tool to improve their share of business potentially at the expense of others.
Council’s Minutes are a legal and transparent record for all to see and I have quoted from them verbatum.
Nomads – make up your own minds! Note that this post appears elsewhere.
You would think that the Councils would be less single sighted and attract
money spenders any way possible. what about businesses besides the parks? don’t they count?