Motorhome and campervan tax could launch soon amid 'significant appetite’ for drivers to pay £20 a day
A local authority could use new legislative powers to tax motorhome drivers
PA
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A popular tourist region is preparing to greenlight a new vehicle tax which will adversely affect motorhome owners across the UK. The Highland Council revealed that it is moving one step closer to introducing a motorhome tax which forms part of new legislative powers.
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill, which recently passed through Parliament in July, gives local authorities the power to charge tourists who park their motorhomes in popular areas overnight.
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The law dictates that a levy becomes “payable when a person takes entry to the overnight accommodation within the area,” with drivers estimated to pay £20 per night.
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More than 3,000 motorhomes parked in Skye last year
PACouncil documents stated: “A reference to a night is a reference to any continuous period of six or more hours between 12 noon on one day and 12 noon on the following day which includes midnight.
“It also is any combination of two or more individual periods totalling six hours or more where the combined period occurs between 12 noon on one day and 12 noon on the following day.”
In a recent Isle of Skye and Raasay committee meeting, chairman John Finlayson, said: “Campervans should pay a tourist tax and number plate recognition is the way forward given how they affect the day-to-day lives of locals.
“Absolutely we need to be charging campervans as the number of campervans coming this year, I believe it is almost double.”
He argued: “You can’t drive from Kyleakin to Portree without every single space whether it be a parking space or somebody’s gate entrance- having a campervan in it.”
Meanwhile, Councillor Drew Miller explained that the authority could “easily access the visitor levy and use it to improve infrastructure within the area.
He noted that the council would need to differentiate between motorhomes and campervans to ensure that those who park legally are not slapped with unfair charges.
He said: “There is a big difference between a motorhome and a camper van parked in a site. All vehicles that people are sleeping in need to come under this tax because I think it's totally unfair if people parked in a campsite would then be punished with a similar charge as people who just abandon their vehicles sleeping in them and moving on."
However, Calum Munro, who represents the Eilean a' Cheò ward, stated that if a tax were to be imposed there would need to be a tourism management strategy in place which is “crucial” to ensure that any funds raised Highland-wide would be allocated to the right places.
Last year, roughly 3,000 motorhomes were parked on campsites around Skye during the summer, according to a council survey.
Due to the high numbers of motorhomes flooding into the area during summer there “was significant appetite” for campervans to be charged.
Simon Cousins, director of SkyeConnect, who was also present in the meeting, said he was in favour of including automatic number plate recognition cameras to crack down on motorhomes parking illegally without paying the fare.
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PAHe said: “I think the implementation of number plate recognition technology to charge the camper van, I strongly believe that is the way forward. Some mechanism for charging the campervans is the way forward.”