Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fears around Pitlochry tourist facilities as more than 40 campervans take over car park

The Pitlochry caravans at night
The Pitlochry caravans at night

Dozens of campervans took over a car park in Pitlochry for several days at New Year resulting in fresh concerns about the lack of facilities for motorhome tourists in Perthshire.

Over 40 vehicles stationed themselves in the Perthshire town from December 29 until after the New Year’s Day Street Party celebrations, blocking up the council owned car park.

The number of campervan tourists has increased rapidly in Perthshire over the last 12 months with councillors and community councils becoming concerned about the lack of infrastructure currently in place to deal with the influx of visitors.

In 2019 similar problems were witnessed at car parks in Dunkeld and Loch Tay causing access problems for locals and raising health and safety fears over waste.

The caravans in Pitlochry at New Year

Mike Williamson, SNP councillor for Highland Perthshire, has been calling for councils to be given the power to introduce localised measures to tackle issues with campervans.

The campaigner said the latest arrivals in Pitlochry highlighted the need for new facilities and feared the large number of motorhomes in close proximity posed a fire risk.

Councillor Williamson said: “The annual New Year’s Day street party in Pitlochry is a great boost to the local economy.

“However, the arrival of 40 plus motorhomes to one car park in Pitlochry has highlighted the need that there does not seem to be a clear policy about the use of council car parks for overnight camping along with a need for more investment in the infrastructure to be put into place.

“With many caravan sites closed for winter locally leaving motorhome users no clear idea of where to park or dispose of their waste.

“This has lead to fears about the potential environmental impact this may be having around the edges of the car parks along with the potential health and safety risks.”

The Highland Perthshire councillor is concerned that the new Heart 200 tourist route planned for Perthshire will only add to the growing number of caravans parking up in the area.

In October, Dunkeld and Birnam Community Council called for signs to be erected at the town’s Rumbling Bridge car park to stop overnight stays after a number of campervans moved in.

Stuar Paton, community council chairman, said: “We’ve definitely seen an increase in the number of campervans using sites around Dunkeld and a general rise in wild camping as well.

“On the whole it has been well managed but it has become a problem in Dunkeld where it’s near houses and beside homes and it becomes intrusive.

“There’s also the issue of human waste as a lot of the smaller vans don’t have facilities so there is a concern there.”