A trial of short-stay parking for recreational vehicles in the small Victorian town of Tatura has proved so successful that it is set to be made permanent … and the model could now be replicated in nearby communities.
Greater Shepparton City Council kept close tabs on the ‘experiment’ which allowed up to three fully self-contained RVs stay for up to 48 hours in Tatura’s Douglas St car park
The Riverine Herald reports that, while the trial was impacted by Covid restrictions, the site was utilised a total of 70 nights during the trial period and surveys revealed an average spend per stay of $446.42. Some 90% of respondents spending on grocery shopping, 60% purchasing fuel, and 30% dining out locally.
Most spent money on general shopping including clothes, gifts, and souvenirs.
The council said that one occupant spent $2,000 on vehicle repairs which, if removed, reduced the average spend per night to $187.50 per vehicle.
A report prepared for the August council meeting recommends the site, which is close to shopping in Hogan St and the dump point at Tatura Park, now be made permanent.
As part of the trial, the Riverine Herald reports that the car park area was resurfaced and the lighting was upgraded, and temporary CCTV monitoring was also installed.
Now, it seems other small towns across the municipality, including Mooroopna, Dookie, Murchison and Merrigum have expressed interest in also setting up RV sites.
The council will now develop an RV strategy as part of the development of the new Economic Development Tourism and Major Events Strategy.
The Riverine Herald says councillors will consider adoption of a permanent site at its August meeting, which takes place at 3pm tomorrow.
Live in Shepparton and quite surprised that the Greater Shepparton Council did this but go them. Hopefully it will expand to other towns in the council area including Shepparton. Portland miss out because of the method of ownership of the local caravan parks. Kalgoorlie win big time. 48 hours gives you time to come in in the afternoon, spend the next day exploring, then leave. If you want to spend more time, go to a caravan park. 1 day isn’t really enough time to explore Kalgoorlie and neither is 48 hrs enough to explore the Goulburn Valley.
Well said Bob, The quicker councils realise that self contained 48 hour free parking encourages people to spend. We have booked 25 sites in Kalgoorlie for a Tagalong and the best price we could get was $36 per site after 20% discount..
1 park with 25% discount was $42.75.
They wondered why I didn’t book.
I paid 80 dollars for 2a 3K. I dont know what possed me to accept this price on a run down caravan park in kalgoolie. Was not even to a big 4 standard(this was not the big 4). never going to make that mistake again.
Portland free park is open everyday. Lots of vans camp here and support the local businesses. Please check your facts.
Portland has been open for some time, yes it has a time limit, the shire did spend some money on amenities, its all good to go.
Portland has one of the cleanest and best 48 hour free stopover points in Victoria.
Cheers.
At last some councils are waking up to the fact that grey nomads look after the towns that look after them. Hats off to sheparton council & all other councils around australia that allow 48 hour parking close to the town centre
$187 per vehicle per night – that doesn’t sound right.
Even if I fill with petrol and buy a weeks worth of food, I wouldn’t be spending anywhere near that.
Depends what facilities the area has. We purchase coffee and a snack as a contribution at each town we stop and will buy gifts for friends and family and if we are ill prepared for a weather change, clothes for ourselves. We are not all on a tight budget.
Depending on the town, depending on the situation, 80L Diesel (~$110), Pub meal for 2 plus a couple drinks (~$60), groceries, a visit to the bakery, paper shop, local attractions, etc, etc. Some of us ‘free campers’ whom can comfortably survive can have this money to locally spend because we do free camp. Good job Shepperton/Tatura for recognising this 🙂
Now Ballarat is another story,no free camp, no low cost camping an no free dump point,all the people I speak to on the road avoid Ballarat like it’s got the Black Death,good on Tatura .
We have to fully agree with Peters comments regarding Ballarat. So much to see and do in this beautiful town, unfortunately we and a lot of travels go straight through. Shame on you Ballarat for not providing cheap/ free camping and no dump point.
In the grainfield area of WA the local coucils run rv parks for 25 bucks a night, with camp kitchen/toilets/power/water and hot showers.
Koorda had this new spanking area, amazing value.
Just watch out for the midges….
The one thing that I can never understand why showgrounds and sports grounds are closed to campers. They have all the facilities that campers would need. They are only used, in most cases, a few days per year and if they are used more often, camping is not incompatible with that use.
The fees paid by campers have allowed some facilities to make numerous improvements that can be enjoyed the local population as well as the campers.
I live in the hope that one day caravan park owners will realise that I would not stay in their establishments if they payed me to do so.
Whitsunday Council have banned Caravans/camping in all Showgrounds. Just came back from Bowen and despite all caravan parks being full we were informed we could not stay at the Showgrounds which is huge, beautifully maintained and excellent facilities. Seems totally ridiculous.
In years gone by. 2002 to 2016 we were able to camp at the BLOWEN BOWEN show grounds for $10 per night. You had to check out each day but we parked up at the waterfront and went fishing.
How sad it is now. But I suppose it’s a sign of the times.
A few years ago we camped at Wauchope showground because it was 2 minutes walk from my sisters place who had no room for our van, the amenities were terrible but soon after they upgraded them, the next time we wanted to stay at the town family said there was a new park at Timbertown and the show was on so we stayed at the Timbertown park. Brand new and very good amenities and a good price.
After that we were told that the Timbertown park was closed because of pressure from some wingers possibly, other business in town.
Not sure what the true story is but we would probably stay at the showground next time we can get on the road again.
In USA you can stay in the car park over night near Walmart store. Must leave by 9am next day if I have it correct. The people we spoke to said it had a few benefits. security for Walmart people shop before they move on.
RV camp is situated just off main street and shopping centre. Tatura town has many attractions. Irrigation & War Camps/Internment camps museum, water tower mural Sir John Monash, VC Statue Pte Robert Mactier, Cussen Park Wetlands walking tracks, German War Cemetery. Only 20km to City of Shepparton, 70km city of Echuca.
187.50 X 365 = 68000. I am not convinced of this level of spend. I would like to see how this survey was conducted and how the info was derived and analysed. Seems to me some high living?
More information about Tatura and surrounding area.
https://www.thegreynomads.com.au/where-to-go/victoria/tatura/
Portland, well done 48 hour stay, time to catch up on some rest.
Loved our stay here, so interesting lots to see well set out.
We only free camp as we spent money on our beautiful van with the lot.
Feeling refreshed and spent our money around the town.
Thankyou for 48 hours stay.
Hope other towns see if you have to stay in parks they miss out as we just keep going. $491.65 we spent in Portland.
And recommended highly to our traveller friends
THANK you