Free ride over for campers

•  Fees are on the way for campers at Derby.

By Tony Scott,
November 17, 2021

The days of free camping at Derby are numbered after the Dorset Council agreed to install a ticket machine at the riverside Derby Park as the method of extracting a fee from willing campers.

General Manager Tim Watson said the payment scheme would be on an honesty basis.

“If people really don’t want to pay they won’t have to, but we did a survey of about 60 people using the park who were quite supportive of the idea, provided the proceeds were going to be used to maintain the bike trails.”

“There’ll be some peer pressure come in to play.”

He also proposed contracting a casual worker to sweep through the area in peak times not so much to enforce payment of the fees, but to have a “friendly chat” and reinforce that money would be used on the trails.

“A lot of the users of the camping area are young families and if the kids really get into mountain biking they’re our repeat visitors for future years.”

He said free camping at Derby had been contentious for some years with some community members objecting.

But while the Council considered paying for a campsite may have merit, it had not been able to come up with a model that didn’t cost more to collect than the amount that was collected. 

The recommended system was for the installation of a ticket machine, like those in some city car parks, and signs explaining how proceeds would be used.

“The fee will be $20 a site per night for four to six people, we don’t care about how many.”

The scheme is expected to raise more than $60,000 with $10,000 to $15,000 to pay for the casual worker to sweep through the area.

Mr Watson said scheme could not be used to also collect money from bike riders.

“We would love to charge people to ride the trails, but it’s simply not possible.” 

The Council agreed to a variation of $10,000 to the current budget to install a ticket machine and signs.

Mr Watson also gave a report to the Council on the recent investment in the Bridport Seaside Caravan Park.

The report was partly in response to perceptions that fee increases in June were not warranted.

He said there had been no increase for the previous five years, so the rise for annual sites averaged only 2 per cent a year over that time, probably less than the consumer price index for the period.

He said a comparison with other parks around the state showed the fee structure to be competitive.

Sine 2014 $1.6 million had been spent on refurbishing amenities blocks, vegetation maintenance, internal roads, stormwater and the new reception building and entrance.  

Mayor Greg Howard said the $5 increase in the overnight site fee meant people would actually be better off than they were before the showers had been made free.

“Families with young kids, who might have several showers a day, would be well in front.”

He said the caravan park looked better than it ever had and response from campers was generally positive.