Motorhome owners being urged to take advantage of free overnight parking in Rhyl

Motorhome owners are being urged to take advantage of free overnight parking in Rhyl.

The public carpark behind the Marsden Sun Verge pub in the Denbighshire seaside town is being recommended on the ‘UK Pub stopovers for motorhomes & campervans’ Facebook group.

It has been recommended to the group, which has a 102.9k members, because people don’t have to pay to stay there.

This comes amid reports of a rise in motorhomes and campervans parking in unrestricted areas in the north of Wales.

Complains from locals have led Conwy County Borough Council to clampdown on the practice.

Holidaymakers looking for a cheap overnight berth will not be able to park up on Gloddaeth Avenue, Llandudno, after council contractors painted single yellow lines down the length of the dual carriageway.

Former North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has suggested parking wardens be used to deal with the “problem” of motorhomes in Gwynedd.

He made the suggestion after Gwynedd Council asked for ideas on how to deal with an increase in motorhomes visiting the area.

In response, he called on the local authority to enforce existing rules, to increase fines for breaking them, and to use wardens to tackle the issue.

‘Fab stop’

In a post on the Facebook group page, Kat Brown said: “We had a fab stop last night in Rhyl in North Wales on Sunday night. This is a public car park and is right behind the Marsden Sun Verge pub right on the sea front.

“The car park is free day and night with no signs prohibiting overnights or sleeping.

“There were 7 motorhomes the night we stayed. The car park is large and flat (no levellers required! ) and the pub seemed to mainly cater to the family market and was pretty quiet later on.

“The nearest public toilets are about a 5 min walk but are closed overnight. The pub obviously has toilets when open and there’s a great surf café right next to the parking which has toilets open for customers and is open fairly early in the morning. It’s one I’d definitely return to.”

On the issue of motorhomes in Gwynedd, Arfon Jones told Golwg360: “I’ve seen motorhomes parked where they shouldn’t be, even though there are places for camping.

“Gwynedd Council should enforce the rules more. You already have parking wardens. Why can’t they do the same thing with motorhomes that park overnight.

“Gwynedd Council needs to look at a number of options, like providing more suitable parking spaces for them, and provide bins for waste.

“I’ve seen places like the Lake District do that, and of course this isn’t just a problem in North Wales, but across the United Kingdom.

“At the end of the day, if the demand increase, the cost of camping is going to increase, which is going to cause more of a problem.

“They’re choosing to park on the side of the street because it costs so much to camp, but if they can afford to buy motorhomes they should be able to afford pay to camp.

“What the councils really need to do is increase the obligation to pay fines for breaking the rules.”