Strong debate sparked over Newsport’s RV park story
RV PARK DEBATE
A Newsport article about a Douglas Shire councillor’s proposal for a low-cost RV park in the region has generated strong debate for and against the idea.
Cr Peter McKeown said on our site that the region was missing out on potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because key RV clubs did not recognise Douglas as RV friendly.
He had earlier proposed at a Council meeting that a low-priced RV park of up to 50 sites, to be run by the national Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA), be established in the shire, possibly in Mossman.
Reader responds
But in a letter to the Editor of Newsport, a reader has warned “be very wary of any party wanting land, free water and free dump points that the short falls will be paid for by ratepayers.”
The writer went on to say: “Being a caravan owner and retired travel agent I have been involved with in-depth talks with vested interest groups on many occasions and in the end it becomes a hard nosed business decision on how far you go with ratepayer funded projects.
“It turned out a proven point after investigation that most use the sites for a free stopover with few spending any funds in the shires providing these facilities. Any destination that has points of interest will sell itself earning incomes to existing caravan parks and other localised businesses.”
Councillor argues RV site could earn income
Cr McKeown argued the opposite in his proposal put before Council earlier this year, when he said that an RV park would not be burden on ratepayers because Council could identify an appropriate piece of land, and pay for it by selling off other surplus land it owned.
“The CMCA come in and they do all the infrastructure work that’s required, they then pay us rates, they then pay us lease amounts so Council actually earns a small income from land that we own where we don’t get that now,” Cr McKeown said.
Social media responders weigh up the $ arguments
Debate on Newsport’s Facebook page became spirited after we posted the article.
After one post suggested “RV owners think they should be entitled to bludge off towns,” a traveller responded: “we have a bus & travel from the Daintree to Perth, we only ever stay overnight so don’t want or need facilities, swimming pools and everything else caravan parks provide.
“We pay whatever donation sites ask for; we pay for fuel in these towns ($180) morning coffee/dinner so is that bludging off towns?”
Consultation showed strong support
Cr McKeown said in his RV park proposal that a Council consultation had been done in Douglas in 2021, which was largely supportive of the idea. He wrote:
- In brief 383 people responded.
- 93% of respondents agreed an RV Park would be good for the Mossman economy.
- 70% of respondents preferred 50 sites over 20.
- 72 Businesses responded to the survey - 71 agreed an RV Park would be good for the Mossman economy.
- 1 was neutral.
- 237 residents responded - 93% agreed an RV Park an RV Park would be good for the Mossman economy.
- 3% were neutral.
- 4% disagreed or strongly disagreed.
- 5 of 13 caravan park owners in the shire strongly objected to Council creating an RV Park in Mossman or indeed anywhere in the shire.”
The caravan park argument
In support of local caravan parks, another reader reacted strongly to our social media posts:
“What about the 13 caravan parks in the region that pay huge rates and bills and follow costly regulations which directly correlate to the cost of site fees?” asked Karlie Brady.
“Most parks sit near empty struggling for six months of the year outside of the tourist season,” she added. “The people going to these RV parks are our customers and we cannot compete with free or cheap camping. We are local businesses too!”
What else they said
Sean Constable, Business Development Officer, CMCA:
“Our feedback is that people are spending big dollars for rigs that can go off-grid for several days, so why should they pay for sites that provide facilities they are not going to use.
“There is an RV park now at the Mossman Golf Club which is going very well from what I have heard. This is not a low-cost park ($27.00 per night for an unpowered site) but it does serve the purpose of accommodating fully self-contained RVs, which is what CMCA RV parks are aimed at supporting. This park is limited to 18 sites which makes it a bit small but at least it is something, so we promote it and word is getting out there.”
Peter McKeown, Douglas Shire Councillor:
“The recently opened RV park in Bundaberg (2018), visitors spent an average of $273.00 per RV night. This is equivalent to over $2.7 million economic injection into the local economy.
“In a CMCA survey 2019, members indicated an average spend of $542.00 per week when on the road with an average of 105 days per year covering an average of over 10,000 km.”
A reminder to readers that you can access all Letters to the Editor via the link
https://www.newsport.com.au/letters-opinions