Loophole that brings ‘bedlam’ to national parks must be shut

It may seem a somewhat inappropriate time of the year to be talking about summer holidays but given the speed at which Government wheels turn I feel this issue needs to be raised now.

I am referring to the matter of popup campsites which began appearing during the pandemic to meet the huge demand for staycations and which to a lesser extent also sprouted last summer.

My particular concern is the impact of these on national parks. I may refer you to a case in my own constituency – which includes, as you will be aware, most of Exmoor – and where a farmer decided in 2021 to take advantage of the 28-day rule (actually extended to 56 days because of Covid) to establish a temporary campsite on his land.

It was a good distance from his farm, there was no supervision, traffic to and from the site (of which there was plenty: the nearest shop was three miles away) clogged the narrow lanes and there were further problems with dogs running wild and general noise.

When an application was lodged for a permanent campsite at the location it was quite rightly rejected because aside from the huge local opposition, it fell foul of at least three of the national park’s planning rules,

However the farmer then applied through Go Explore, an organisation apparently licensed by Natural England to certify camping sites – overriding the need for formal planning consent. Only the scale of the public outcry later led to the application being withdrawn.

But the fact remains that this backdoor route still remains open to be exploited and that is something that

I and my national park constituents find extremely disturbing.

While some people may complain that they find them irksome, the very stringent planning regulations within national parks exist for the sole purpose of preserving our most precious areas of countryside and protecting them from damaging development, under which heading I suggest pop-up tent cities – and as many as 500 encampments could have appeared on the 18-acre site in question – fall.

It is patently nonsensical to have on the one hand a set of fairly rigid planning regulations which have to take into account a host of issues from noise, traffic, accessibility and local public opinion when applications for tourism-related developments are being considered – then, on the other hand, a loophole via which uncontrolled bedlam can be inflicted on a rural community, albeit only for a limited time.

I would suggest – and I am sure I will have the support of other MPs whose constituencies include national parks – that the most expedient course (and the best way of avoiding local friction) would be to exclude all of our 10 national parks from the Go Explore provisions and to insist on people who wish to provide camping facilities within their boundaries following the normal planning route.

In an open letter to Defra Secretary Therese Coffey, Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, says pop-up campsites in national parks are unacceptable