Can anyone tell me if there is a legal requirement to pitch your tent/caravan a certain distance from the neighbouring unit. I have just returned from my summer holiday on a very popular site with very small pitches, so we had no choice but to pitch very close together. If any of us had a fire the whole site would have gone up!!
I always look for sites that boast 'spacious/large pitches'. Also check the size of the site and how many pitches they have. For instance, a site of 2 acres with 20 pitches is going to be far more spacious than a site of 2 acres with 40 pitches.
The C&CC and CC both require units to be 6 metres apart. Many other sites appear to have adopted this as the 'industry standard'. I don't know what the legal requirements of the site licences are but as you say lorndria anything less could be a fire risk.
Hazel & Carr
------------- Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children.
u do have a choice, dont park on that site, friends of ours have just come back from Newquay, they have been using the same site for years. Its has now changed hands and a new shower block has arrived as well, however the owner has crammed as many people on the site as poss, u couldnt get your car down the side of the tent and had to park in front. The caravan next to them had 4 adults and a couple of kids,2 of the adults slept (sorry used) in the awning every night they sat uup drinking till about 2.00 then went inside nowone slept in the end (on the last morning) our friend ,whose wife wouldnt let him say anything said in a loud voice is that it! that didnt take him long this time, they must have heard him. but seriously the fire risk isnt worth taking a chance over and quite rightly said that if one went up they would all have gone.
as I said vote with your feet (tent) and just go elsewhere.
Would suggest you get confirmation of space allocated, in writing, before parting with cash deposit. Every tried getting that deposit back, when you turn up & find things not as you expect?
I wouldn't rely too much on pitch qty/size ratio's either. It really should work well, but you are still at the mercy of the sites honesty. We are recently back from a site in Cornwall, which shows on here as 75 pitches. However, when we were there, we counted 30 caravans, 110 tents + a scout group of six small tents & two big ones. The facilities were overrun at normal busy times.
On top of that, we had honestly stated the size of our tent, but had to squeeze in as best we could.
The Cornish fire brigade recommend 6mtr gaps, like all others that link to the main fire brigade site. However, we checked out quite a few sites (as we passed, being nosey for next visit) and found none that stuck to the 6mtrs "rule". Maybe we were unlucky.
Once bitten, etc. No site is going to do this sort of thing to us again. Just a shame you seem to have to find out the hard way.
Trouble is, that may mean we find it very hard to get out there camping again.
Thanks for all the replies. The problem with having to holiday in peak season is that most sites in G.B. expect payment in full in advance, and that isn't cheap, but I'll put it down to experience and look more carefully next time.
The model standards which the licence conditions are based on states for touring vans that they must at least 6 metres apart - the same guidelines should be used for TTs
Being ex-wardens of camping sites, I'll give you the benefit of our experience of working on 2 of the 4 sites on the south coast & IOW owned by the same family.
The width between units is set by the licensing authority, and is normally 6m minimum.
Making the pitches bigger means less pitches in total and therefore less revenue for the site owners.
Paying up front means that its up to you whether you turn up or not, at least the owner has his money.
'Pup' tents for sleeping in only are not counted (although are usually charged for by the site owner), and therefore not included in the number of units allowed in the licence.
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Topic: Space on pitches.
