Concerns raised at overnight parking by camper vans in Seahouses

Roadside verges at St Aidan’s and by the golf course and the overflow car park in the centre of the village were singled out as problem areas at a meeting of North Sunderland Parish Council.

Similar concerns have been raised over the course of the summer in Bamburgh, Beadnell and Alnmouth where parish councillors have discussed the possible introduction of a local bylaw to ban them.

Cllr Alan Macfarlane said: “They are basically parking anywhere where they don’t think they are going to get any bother but there were 8-10 in the overflow car park the other night.

"I know a lot of people are of the opinion that they’re not doing a great deal wrong but if you let it slide it will be advertised on camping forums as somewhere free to park.”

He suggested new signage stating ‘no camping and no camper vans parking overnight’.

But Cllr Maureen Bramley said: “We could get signage but it’s enforcement that’s the problem.”

Cllr Geoffrey Stewart, chairman, asked about the possibility of a bylaw in Seahouses.

"That’s the only thing that’s going to stop it,” he said.

Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, local county councillor, responded: “It’s something Alnmouth Parish Council are looking into and I’m keeping an eye on how they get on because if they make a bylaw banning wild camping then I think a of of coastal parishes will want to do the same.”

A height barrier at the overflow car park - as there is at the harbour commission’s car park – was suggested by Cllr David Shiel but others felt it would only shift the problem elsewhere.

Cllr Bramley also hit out at ‘inconsiderate and highly dangerous’ parking on the corner of Dunstan View and King Street.

She said: “Inconsiderate parking on pavements and straddling double yellow lines means people can’t get past and pedestrians are having to step out on to the road.”

Cllr Macfarlane reported that a number of vehicles in the area had recently received parking tickets.

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