Interesting Petition Part 2

True but neither you nor they would likely sleep or cook in such circumstances. The chances are you wouldn’t even be in the vehicle at all as you'd be busy spending in the shop. Not quite the same thing is it?

Although, you are not normally, cooking / sleeping in your car. You are in the store shopping, then getting in and driving home.

Beat me to it TW.

I've been looking into the Canterbury parking. The council website describes it as extra large dedicated parking for motorhomes with water and waste facilities. All references are to parking  i can't find any planning or other documents online relating to the establishment of dedicated motorhome parking. 

So as it's parking there's no need to worry about the space between vehicles because nobody is occupying parked vehicles right?  I'm sure there's a sign somewhere saying vehicles are parked at your own risk  

Hmmm.  I think I see what's going on

And in Italy bridges fall down. (Dreadful by the way)  We are talking different standards of safety, different mindsets, different cultures. 

Dont get me wrong, a lot of the standards that are applied to certain things in this country, are to put it simply, there to avoid litigation rather than make life any pleasanter for communities or the public in general. But that's the culture we have, for better or for worse. Often over the top because of a tiny minority who take advantage and spoil it for everyone else.

yes the sleeping part is the most dangerous if the unit next door catches fire.

There was a thread on here a few months back that had a video of a fire on a caravan site? The adjacent units were touched by the fire but it was contained.

Also a fire in a car park would usually (hopefully) be nearer to a Fire Station, some sites or these proposed stop overs would could be miles from anywhere? Some of the club sites I have stayed at are up 15 miles from the nearest town. The spacing is to contain the fire to that unit.

Do the Model Standards work in practice? Arguably yes. It was evident from the FRS research that spacing could be narrower for metal caravans, although the construction of timber based residential units required the maintenance of 6m (20 ft) or thereabouts.

There have been very few circumstances over 40 years reported where caravan fires have led to significant spread between units. And here is a good example. A metal caravan was deliberately set on fire by arson in the midst of a park where spacing was 5m between rows and only 3m end to end (as approved by a current and lawfully issued Site Licence). The photos (July 2011) illustrate that the fire burned exactly as noted in the FRS research and did not affect adjoining units, despite the non-standard spacing approved on this park

I don't think you can start messing with lives on this?

This, from the Council's website:

"How to pay
Pay by cash. If you are staying overnight please ensure you only validate your ticket at the paystation prior to leaving" (my bold).

Not "parking overnight".

It's still described as dedicated motorhome parking.

 I'm not terribly interested in layman documentation at this stage. I'm looking for the committee reports and anything that led to the decision to set it up in the first place. 

I might put it forward for a technical study for a planning law group I'm in. Could be interesting.  

Yes, would be interesting if you report your findings.

Whenever (and wherever) the use of a caravan (motorised or towed) includes human habitation then the definitions in the 1960 Act are met and, in law, it can not be simply parking.

At Canterbury the council is fully aware that it is not just parking because the facility was deliberately set up in that way.

As pointed out earlier, the model scheme is just that. Canterbury City Council has decided that the spacing in place is sufficient for that location. As also pointed out earlier, should disaster happen then they may have to justify the validity of that decision.

As an aside, the one time we stayed there (about 45 hours including two nights) I felt perfectly safe.