A process has been approved which would allow Aberdeenshire Council proposals to sell off or lease out its caravan parks.
The move by the Infrastructure Services Committee (ISC) follows a decision taken by the full council in November to develop the proposal, against a backdrop of budget cuts.
Officers have clarified the council’s legal position in relation to its caravan parks portfolio and while it may be possible to sell the majority of sites, the most appropriate solution is thought to be to offer them on a long-term lease basis.
Work is still needed on the form such a lease arrangement would take, transferring appropriate responsibilities to any new operator while retaining a degree of council control, to protect Aberdeenshire’s assets in the longer term.
Members of the ISC recently decided that, given the importance of caravan parks to communities, organisations and groups will be given first refusal of local parks.
If there is no interest or this is not possible, the next step would be to offer opportunities to private firms.’Community assets’ISC chairman Peter Argyle said, “The caravan parks are not the council’s they are community assets that we look after on behalf of the community.
“It is the right approach to go back to communities and ask if they want to be involved in the management of their caravan parks and then come to an arrangement on that basis.
“Clearly not every caravan park will have a community group that wants to take over. In that case we can widen the search.”
Committee vice-chairwoman Jill Webster said, “I certainly see the caravan parks as being extremely important to each of the communities they are in and to the local economy, because they bring in a lot of investment.”
She highlighted it as an opportunity for community groups and trusts to earn income from which could potentially be used to fund other community projects.
Councillor Alistair Ross said anyone looking to run one of the parks should have to submit a robust business case and be clear that the council will not support it financially. He emphasised the importance of retaining parks for communities.
Officers will continue to work to transfer ownership of the caravan parks, with a further report due back to ISC on May 12. Talks are ongoing with a national caravan organisation about taking over the running of a Mearns site.
The Caravan Club, billed as Europe’s number one touring organisation and boasting over 375,000 members, has been approached by the town’s tourist group over whether it is interested in taking over the running of the Queen Elizabeth Caravan Park.
Chairman of the Stonehaven Tourism Group Frank Budd said members fully support the proposal, as do the Stonehaven Business Association, while local MSP Nigel Don and Stonehaven councillor Graeme Clark have also offered their backing.
Mr Budd said the town was running out of volunteers for projects as there was so much going on and he had concerns about the level of professionalism and investment a community group could bring to the project if they were to take control.
The club recently released figures estimating that the business community in Forfar would benefit from £2.5 million each year as a result of its presence in the town.