Tenterfield not so RV Friendly
Local council supports caravan parks in rejecting proposal for Tenterfield to join popular RV Friendly Towns Scheme
The Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia's popular RV Friendly Towns Scheme has suffered a minor setback, with a northern NSW town knocking back a proposal to become 'RV Friendly'.
A majority of councillors at a Tenterfield Shire Council meeting have voted against the small historic town joining the Scheme, mainly because one of the Scheme's requirements that a longer-term parking facility for RVs be provided within 5-20km of the town, for a "reasonable rate" of about $12.50 a night.
According to the Tenterfield Star newspaper, Councillor Lucy Sullivan argued that the arrangement would set the council up in competition with Tenterfield's existing caravan parks.
"I don’t think council should be in the position of providing a special parking area for RVs," Cr Sullivan said. "I think they are welcome any way.
"I think we have to consider the caravan park people. They are in business and they have paid a lot of money for their businesses.
"We should not be in a position of opposition to existing businesses."
Local caravan park owners including Barbara Ball from Tenterfield Lodge and Caravan Park, welcomed the news.
"This saves the park from going out of business. That's a big thing for Tenterfield," Ball said.
However, Peter Robinson from the Tenterfield Ratepayers' Association, who made a presention to council earlier this year about the RV Friendly Scheme, said rejecting it was "extremely short-sighted," considering the increasing growth in RV travellers.
"We know that the baby boomers are coming into this age group – their 50s and 60s – they have quite a lot of money to spend, and they want to get off their bums and see Australia," Robinson said.
"It seems blind that this is happening in front of our eyes and we are just saying no, we're not interested."
The RV Friendly Towns Scheme is an initiative of the Caravan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA), one of Australia's largest clubs for mobile travellers with about 60,000 members.
A town must provide a range of amenities and services to qualify as 'RV Friendly', including access to 24 hour medical and pharmacy services and potable water, a Dump Point within 50km of the town, and provision of short as well as longer term parking within 5-20km of town centre, at a reasonable rate.
Currently, there are 146 Australian towns registered and signposted as 'RV Friendly'.
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