Mark Smith, Strategic Commissioner for Environment, introduced a report which set out the background and latest position with respect to the management of campervans at coastal locations.

The effective management of campervans and other visitors to the borough primarily contributed to the Wirral Plan Pledge to achieve a Vibrant Tourism Economy.

To date the presence of campervans had mainly been an issue affecting the Wallasey and New Brighton Wards. During the past twelve months, numerous complaints had been received from residents in New Brighton and Wallasey Wards regarding the overnight parking of campervans and similar vehicles along Kings Parade and Coastal Drive in New Brighton. The concerns had focused on the aesthetics of these vehicles parking at this seaside location along with anecdotal evidence of environmental offences being committed (waste being thrown into the sea etc). Officers had visited the location on numerous occasions and to date there had not been any tangible evidence of environmental or other offences being committed that would warrant formal enforcement action being taken.

It was reported anecdotally that New Brighton was promoted amongst the campervan fraternity as a place to visit, in part due to the availability of free parking. It was also reported anecdotally that a proportion of those people staying in campervans visited the local attractions and made use of the food and drink offer, contributing to the local economy.

In October 2017, Ward Members had requested a meeting with officers to look at potential options for the management of campervans visiting New Brighton. The options identified focused on either removing / discouraging campervans from parking on the highway by regulation (ie. a Traffic Regulation Order to ban or charge for vehicles) or by incentivising such vehicles to park at an alternative off-highway site.  A summary of the options discussed at the meeting was appended to the report.

Mark Smith informed the meeting that the Leader of the Council had confirmed in the last few days that the proposed introduction of car parking charges at coastal locations would not be taken forward by the Council.

The Chair then welcomed Mrs Foster of Mockbeggar Drive, Wallasey to the meeting and invited her to address the Committee. She commented upon the issues arising from the situation and stated that most coastal Councils had solved this problem. She had written to the Chief Executive but had not received any satisfactory response.

The Chair thanked Mrs Foster for her comments and apologised on behalf of the Chief Executive for the lack of a satisfactory response.

David Armstrong, Assistant Chief Executive, thanked Mrs Foster for her contribution; he had visited Mrs Foster some 6/9 months ago to discuss the situation and acknowledged that the number of campervans did appear to have increased since then and that at weekends both cul-de-sacs were full of campervans.

In response to comments from Members, Mark Smith stated that having checked with a number of service areas, including the Safer Wirral Hub, Environmental Services and Housing, the number of complaints about the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4