Hi
@Tourershine ...morning...been waiting to see if any forum events are going ahead ( we re-booked for St Just same W/E ) so that too could be in doubt...you mentioned no tents ( rules are rules ) does that apply to awnings/sun canopy/toilet shelter , this may be odd thing to ask as clarity is need but unless your in the know it’s all up in the air....we like most people have put in place steps to ensure that we can be self sufficient ..even thinking about showers, invested in the giant bath wipes as a temp measure....so if you via any of your contacts do see things changing soon ( or as they do ) would you pass it on to all ( sorry that goes without saying ) we are all at present in same boat ( van ) Confused
Sorry mate, I missed you asking this yesterday.
I'm assuming the no tent rule is on the basis that tents are more likely to have no integrated facilities. I know tents can now be pretty self sufficient, but I think it's a blanket rule on the basis that only a small percentage of tenters will have everything needed and if they let on just those, the others would kick off, so a blanket ban is probably the easiest way forward for sites.
I don't know if all these rules apply to all sites or even where the government is getting their advice on the site setups. I cannot imagine it will be from an industry expert simply because they closure of chemical toilet facilities pretty much rules out any Caravan, Motorhome or Camper for more than a couple of days holiday on the basis that our inbuilt toilets need to be emptied pretty much on a daily basis. Also, not all Caravans and Motorhomes have inbuilt water tanks, in fact it's not actually common practice for manufactures to include internal water tanks on most Caravans, and I don't know of any Caravans that have Grey waste tanks built in. This is all done externally with Aquarolls and Wastemasters, which both hold 40-50 litres.
It would be insane to close any kind of water filling or emptying and if this was the case, sites just wouldn't be able to function, and the opening of sites would quickly fail once people realise these rules.
I guess we will just have to wait and see what restrictions are put in place, how sites manage the restrictions and how they manage the liability aspect. Imagine if there was an outbreak that led back to a camp site, and this site was part of one of the bigger companies. The media would be all over it. These are the considerations that site owners and managers will need to consider once they get clarity on the new rules.
Edit:
I've just been doing a bit of digging around some of the big site providers websites and some do conflict each other on what will be open and what won't, which I guess basically means none of them actually know for sure, which leads me to believe that if the major players in the camping industry don't actually know any of the new rules yet, that Rutland are taking the initiative and implementing their own rules which although seem strict, cover pretty much any problems. Bare in mind that the Rutland site is huge and is pretty much several fields with none of the luxury facilities seen on other sites.
Here are some of what the bigger players are saying currently:
www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk
Many of our campsites have reopened in England, Wales and Scotland. Find out which sites are now taking bookings for 2020 and 2021 at the Club.
www.caravanclub.co.uk