Motorhome owners in North Yorkshire have been banned from parking overnight in certain beauty spots along the coast from next month.
The measure comes after numerous complaints from residents about rubbish, fires, and illegal parking caused by the tourist vehicles.
Overnight parking of motorhomes from Sandsend to Raithwaite, Royal Albert Drive in Scarborough and Osgodby Hill and Filey Road in Cayton Bay will be banned between 11.00pm and 7.00am, from September, for the next 18 months.
Cllr Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire Council's Executive Member for Highways and Transportation, explained why the experimental ban is coming into force.
Complaints have been raised by locals about the large number of motorhomes and campervans in Scarborough
GB News
"One individual motorhome or campervan isn't a problem, but when you get tens, if not hundreds of these gathering in a particular location, that does create problems," he told GB News.
"They generate significant amounts of waste, as you can imagine and noise disturbance issues as well.
"Obviously, there are safety implications for the campervan and motorhome owners themselves. We have had some fires reported.
"So this is about the safety of motorhome campervan owners, as well as the amenity for local residents."
Scarborough is Britain's oldest seaside resort and a town visited by tourists from near and far. But complaints have been raised by locals about the large number of motorhomes and campervans that take up precious car parking spaces along Marine Drive on Scarborough's North Bay.
YORKSHIRE LATEST:
Complaints have been raised by locals about the large number of motorhomes and campervans that take up precious car parking spaces
GB News
Business owners are keen to stress that all are welcome - but want facilities to be used correctly.
John Senior MBE is a Scarborough seafront business owner and a spokesman for the business community. He told GB News: "We are very lucky to have the Marine Drive, which is basically a linear park and ride for the town.
"A standard large motorhome will take up two to three parking spaces, and there is a limited amount of parking of around 400 to 500 places.
"If they are taken up completely by motorhomes, which they are, unfortunately, then there really isn't any way for our day trippers and people that want to come and enjoy the resort for a couple of hours or a few hours to actually use.
"It isn't designed to take these sorts of vehicles, however much they're welcome, because Scarborough is open to everybody.
"We also have a problem with free campers at the moment. On top of that, with the camper vans, we're turning the whole of that castle headland into a free camping site, and that's not what it's designed to be.
"North Yorkshire Council have urged that they are not waging war against the campervan and motorhome community. But the planned overnight ban has caused anger amongst some owners of the tourist vehicles."
Motorhome owner Steve travels to Scarborough from Preston around four times a year with his young son, where they both sleep overnight on Marine Drive.
Scarborough is Britain's oldest seaside resort and a town visited by tourists from near and far
GB News
He told GB News that he disagrees with the overnight ban, and vows not to return to Scarborough when the ban is in force.
"The wrong people are getting punished," said Steve. "It's all the idiots that are coming in, cars that are racing up and down at night time, lighting fires, having barbecues. The people in the motorhomes aren't doing that.
"Instead of banning people, they want to get some enforcement, drive around, issue fines there and then on the spot.
"It's a waste of time, but as soon as the ban's in force, I won't be coming back."
Married couple Kelly and Dominic Clarke own a campervan and spent the bank holiday weekend in Scarborough.
The journey to the seaside resort took them three hours, and they told GB News that they would be deterred from visiting again if they could not overnight in their campervan.
"We are spending money here. People that stop overnight are going to go for breakfast and drinks in the evening." said Kelly.
"They're going to spend money here. It would put us off coming if we couldn't stop overnight."
Her husband Dominic added: "It's not as if you're outside someone's house or like that, you're out of the way."According to a report, Civil Enforcement Officers will enforce the restrictions from 13 September “and earlier if possible”.
Following an initial six-month consultation period, the plan could be altered, made permanent, or even scrapped.
A similar overnight seafront parking restriction was previously in place for motor caravans but it expired in 2015. The council has estimated that the cost of advertising the traffic regulation orders and erecting necessary signs is around £4,000.
