Another regional town has decided to trial a 24-hour free camping area, with a view to making it a permanent arrangement.
Councillors at the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes, located approximately 100 kilometres south of Bunbury in WA’s south west, have just given the green light for the plan.
A new camping area will now be made available for self-contained RVs at the Bridgetown Railway Reserve for a three-month period from March 1 until May 31.
Temporary signage will be erected and visitors will be invited to leave their local receipts and invoices from goods and services purchased in a box provided.
Council officers noted that there was limited space at the site.
“There is currently capacity for 4–6 motorhomes on the site (depending on the size of the vehicles), in proximity to the dump point and potable water,” the council report said. “There is no staff capacity to regulate the usage of the site other than the Ranger visually assessing the site at the start and end of each day to ensure the 24-hour aspect is not being abused.”
The idea is that, at the end of the trial, the council will then consider making the arrangement permanent.
The council’s June meeting will consider:
Of the two local caravan parks, the council noted that the free camping option in Bridgetown was more likely to impact Bridgetown Caravan Park rather than Maranup Ford Caravan Park.
The owners of Maranup Ford Caravan Park have reportedly been highly supportive of the initiative (as both a trial and a permanent option). The owners of the Bridgetown Caravan Park are a little more wary. The council notes that the park, while aware of the potential wider community and economic benefit, felt that a free 24-hour camping option could have potential impact on their business.
Councillors ultimately approved the trial of the 24-hour camping area by five votes to four although they only authorised two motorhomes at a time to use the site during the trial period. They decided that this would still provide sufficient information about the effectiveness of the trial without competing with the caravan parks.
Would be nice if we could actually travel to WA in our RV.
you can..just need to observe the rules and quarantine
If I left receipts etc I would then have no proof if purchase if something went wrong,( food,large purchases
etc ) so,as a traveller with no photocopying ability,I would not be inclined to leave them.
Take a photo of the receipt and leave the paper version. It’s not that hard ♀️
You could take a photo of your receipts for your records
take a photo of your receipts and send them all together in an email to council
You can now use you camera to photograph your receipts. It is a great idea used in many places where we have been. We are full time travellers. We need more stops like this but 48 hours us better to spend more time and money in the town
Yes, put all your receipts into the box for everything you buy from the towns and the services you visit. Show everyone how much you appreciate what they have to offer.
When towns promote what their individual attractions are for us to enjoy we often find it beneficial for us to stay for several nights with the local caravan park who provides good clean facilities with ‘van sites that fit our rig.
Its always nice to feel welcomed.
We tend not to ‘free’ camp very often while we travel through new locations we have never seen before.
Paying our way as we go is a little of the “paying it forward” part of life.
By staying a little longer we have often been able to enjoy many of the special places and local hidden treasures when we take our time to get a feeling for the area. Therefore a small offer of a free night can be a nice enticement for people to stay and explore and give a little back to the community who want to say Welcome.
If necessary take a photo of the receipt. It’s not difficult
Use you phone to photo (copy) your receipts..
Thats a simple soulution..
You could just write a summary on a spare bit of paper. we have done this in Qld.
We just write down what we spend. They can always contact is if they want.
I think it would be great. Every time we have been near Bridgetown (we are from WA) the town caravan park has been full. We are a fully self contained caravan.
It’s a great area to visit, if we wanted a longer stay we’d book into the caravan park, as we don’t tow a vehicle or ride bikes being in walking distance if a real advantage . Well done Bridgetown, see you soon again.
Should be 48 hrs so travellers can look around more using it as a base
Well done to the councillors.
Any offers of free camp sites will always encourage me to stay there for a couple of days and invariably spend money in the town, whereas we may have driven through the town to the next spot!
This is a great example of how councils , business owners and nomads can work together.I believe that if a flat fee ,annually collected from the business people, was combined with local council resources, that this could be applied to maintenance and future upgrades.
Great Idea ! Lets loosen the red tape and encourage local spending. Cheers To you all Peter
It’s a great idea and more places should do it,Bridgetown will definately be getting my money next time we’re passing through in our coaster, there is alot more rate paying businesses in these small towns than just the local caravan parks and word of mouth is the best advertising
The Bridgetown C P is a lovely place and they deliver a newspaper free to your van. Worth a visit
definitely interested to stay here.. we love Bridgetown ..it’s a lovely town …
Great idea Bridgetown but I’m a bit confused as the article makes mention of motorhomes only, are self contained caravans not permitted? Also, we found the 24 hrs is not long enough as it practically only gives you enough time to set up, rush to shops for whatever leaving no time to explore and possibly spend more money in the town. We loved staying and exploring Bridgetown previously and would return.
it would be very nice if you also made it available for people in campervans and trailers we too spend money in the towns and how much would you get back if you put a toilet or long drop in
great idea.
Oh Dear!!!! Have some negative impact on the vanparks!!!
What about the positive impact on nearby business establishments?
What is the council’s attitude re op-shops and public libraries’ impact
on bookshops and clothing/retail shops?
Tell the vanparks it’s a free enterprise system and shape up or
ship out.
24hrs doesnt go far enough, 48hrs would give travellers time to shop and enjoy the town. Why do councillors always worry about how this is going to impact the caravan parks they are a business and if they cant float they sink, there are a lot of small businesses that will appreciate this trial.
As a full time traveller i cannot afford caravan park rates. But i do spend my money in RV friendly towns.
We have also been unable to stay at the caravan park because it was full, so I really don’t see a free spot being an issue for a park, I do however believe the council WILL NOT get a realistic response based on receipts or lack of because 24 hours is not at all long enough for people to enjoy a pub meal, coffee & cake or to buy meat for a Barbie, don’t get me started about free spots without mentioning the narrow minded council thinking of Mount Baker or the Shire of Irwin.
My husband and I think it’s a great idea.