Campsites closing at the end of the 2024 season

John

In the past some of these types of sites were run by volunteers, Mildenhall springs to mind. That seem to have ended some time ago. As lovely as it was for people to volunteer I am not sure we should impose that sort of responsibility on ordinary Club members even if they are willing. All site wardens I imagine had a wide ranging training to do the job and to keep members staying on site safe. I know people throw their arms in the air at the mention of Health and Safety but it is there for a reason and why we are safer now than we used to be. If these sites can't survive on the relatively low site fees there is clearly not sufficient demand. It is a shame as over the years we have enjoyed several of this type of site. Unfortunately if they can't break even, and I suspect that is the key point from the Club's point of view, there is little justification for keeping them open. There are some no facility sites that do quite well, Stamford and Hebden Bridge spring to mind.

David 

£30 £35 a night too much for me. The no facility sites suite me fine.

I think it is good financial practice by the club to continuously monitor the profitability of each site and to sadly close those that are unprofitable. The alternatives are to use members money to support these sites, which are visited by so few, and take money away from the network refurbishment budget. Or raise the membership fee or pitch fees to raise funds to support these sites,

Brilliant then. If more people did, or had, then these sites would stay open? But my point to NTH was about needing deep pockets. 

Equally they don't for me and they would have to pay me to stay on them, each to their own as I've always said and I can't think of anything else to say apart from carry on using them? If the club doesn't have them then there must be plenty of others? If not, well...

I agree, I do agree with some sites helping to fund less popular sites to some extent, after all not all sites are full all of the time with some maybe only making a profit, that is covering costs and above, at peak times and rather than close them off peak the really popular sites help to keep them open, but there must/will be a point where that is just unsustainable, I assume that is what happened here. Especially as  the numbers were decreasing year on year, probably at a much greater rate than elsewhere?

If as posted somewhere one of these sites only had one outfit on and if this was the case often then that isn't going to cover the warden's wages for that day.

I think the “one outfit on” comment needs a bit of context here. Nunnykirk closes at the end of September, always has done, so it does sound like even the seasonals had gone home at the time the poster who mentioned it stayed. We stayed at Nunnykirk twice a couple of years ago, before it lost the all in pricing pitch fee. It wasn’t full, but it was busy. Folks can interpret this how they like, but for us, it was a great location, close to places we wanted to visit, had all we required or needed in our less power hungry outfit, and we didn’t need legs, bikes or buses to get anywhere. It was actually our second choice, we couldn’t use Fontburn Reservoir overnight stop, as it was closed for an issue, so we popped into Nunnykirk, and were so glad we did. Did the same going home. I think it was £14 per night at the time. It appeared to be thriving to us.

Two years on, November, we go to Cayton Bay. Huge, a glorified, landscaped car park, half closed up, a mere six outfits in the bottom area (not enough grass to use the term “field”) deserted playground, not exactly close to Scarborough, but it might be on a bus route. I think we paid something like £36 per night for a standard pitch. I can only think that the pitch prices charged are levied so that the Summer pricing subsidises the Winter months it stays open (it’s not an open all year site) So expect to see such sites having a shortened season is my guess. The Club is facing a difficult period I think.

John, you're in luck, if you want to help out then you can volunteer to help the club out then you can:

https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/about-us/work-for-us/on-our-sites/volunteer/

Everyone has a poke at H&S, until they are responsible if someone gets hurts. 

I can't claim credit for finding this, it was in fact found by a friend, but I did remember it being posted and started the hunt.  

In 2023 the CAMC said this:

"One of the Club's ambitions is to ensure there is a pitch at a price for every member. Many members love a ‘back to basics’ campsite whereas others prefer a full facility campsite with a shower block, play area and restaurant. However you enjoy your holiday, be it midweek in the summer or only ever at weekends in the winter, we have a massive variety of sites and pitches at different prices to suit every budget."

How is achieving that ambition being served by closing these  ‘back to basics’  sites?  So much for CAMC being fully inclusive.

I think the Club is relying on the CL network offering things at the more basic end (although of course there are a good few CLs that are very swish, and provide every amenity ).

For us, many of these small basic sites were ideally located as well priced stopovers as well as nice places to spend a longer period. We certainly used Bromyard, Nunnykirk, Much Wenlock, Notgrove (Bourton), NYM and a few others for our travels up and down and across the country. At £14 per night, they were excellent value, better than a lot of CLs. Some we actually went back to and stayed a lot longer to explore the area more. We were very loyal users of such sites, indeed sometimes chose them over other options, and the fact they were there, but are now dwindling so quickly is just another nail in our near 40 year relationship with the Club. They were stunning locations, proper camping that required a bit of effort (physically and mentally), and places to de stress and enjoy beautiful locations, wildlife, a lot more peace and quiet. 
Thinking about it, adding in all the now lost racecourse sites as well, last three years or so has decimated this kind of Club offering. Club sites are now destinations based on ratings for the loos, how long a pipe you need for a service pitch, can I get to a bus stop, and how dodgy is the wifi signal! Exciting times. The front seat view for the grand prix scrabble to get the perfect pitch does come as a bonus I suppose!
Its touring, of a sorts, but a world away from how we think of it. ☹️

The club has to be ambitions but these shouldn't be followed if it leads to reckless financial management.