Camping and Caravan Park [Spelsbury Road]

Mon 20 Jul 2020, 09:51 (last edited on Mon 20 Jul 2020, 09:52)

I have alerted WODC officers to the concerns that have been expressed about the campsite, and they will be making sure that things are operating as they should be, but I also decided to go and have a look for myself yesterday.  I met the new owner and had a good look around.  The campsite has been absolutely inundated with campers, many of whom have arrived in large family groups which want to stay together and do not want to be close to other groups. So they have had to allow several tents onto one pitch, which gives the impression of overcrowding but in fact is a way to ensure that family groups are distanced from each other. I am satisfied that this is true and that they are not exceeding the licensed number of pitches as has been suggested.  They are temperature checking every person that arrives using a static but very effective piece of equipment, which means each person has to leave their car to be tested before they are allowed into the campsite, and this has caused a tailback of traffic which again looks like overcrowding. They have also had to turn a lot of people away because they did not have bookings. All this has caused annoyance to some people arriving at the campsite hence the bad reviews.  

When I went to look on Sunday morning it was very quiet with families sitting around and causing no problems. Mr Dighton who owns the campsite was there and was very concerned that there had been so many complaints. My impression is that this is someone who is doing his best in extremely taxing circumstances.

I am very pleased that they are turning away anyone who has a temperature or who refuses to be checked.  As the people on the campsite will be coming into Charlbury that is very reassuring and I am impressed that they are taking a lot of care to protect everyone.

Also, in answer to Jackie's concern about the number of people walking on the road Mr Dighton asked me if we could get better signposting for the footpaths into Charlbury so I will see if that can be done.