Hopetoun on WA's south coast will stop free camping, citing rubbish complaints

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6 days ago

A West Australian town will close its only free caravan and campervan campsite after complaints of visitors leaving rubbish and human waste behind.
Hopetoun sits about 50 kilometres off Highway One, or South Coast Highway, on the state's south coast and is 555km south-east of Perth.
The Shire of Ravensthorpe voted last week to close a free RV campsite in the town and instead work with a local caravan park to offer discounted $15 a night sites.
The move, which follows similar changes in other towns across Australia, has been met with a mixed response with some fearing it will turn tourists away.
Shire President Tom Major said the council wanted to move the existing 48-hour free site to next to one of the town's caravan parks as it was a better location.
"We want to keep our RV-friendly status for the town, so we need a free, or low-cost option … there will be a low-cost option, but it may not necessarily be free," he said.
Cr Major said the community had raised concerns about the location of the free camping area on a road joining the main street.
Issues raised included safety with its proximity to traffic and rubbish dumping, including toilet paper and human waste left in the surrounding bushland.
He said there was a risk the town might lose some visitors by removing Hopetoun's free campsite, but the council wanted to grow the number of visitors from low-cost budget travellers to higher-yielding visitors.
"We have to strike a balance," Cr Major said.
"I think this policy does the best to strike a balance between offering good options to travellers, supporting local businesses, and making it amenable for residents."
The closest town is Ravensthorpe, 46km away, which will retain its free RV camping site.
Grey Nomad Awards founding director Liz Rivers said in the case of other free camp closures, visitors had typically chosen to visit another area.
"You might find that Ravensthorpe becomes more popular as a free camp, and therefore there'll be more benefit back to the local businesses [in Ravensthorpe]," Ms Rivers said.
"Grey nomads want to be able to give back to the communities in which they stay, and so they tend to make sure they're spending money everywhere they stay.
When ABC posted information on social media about the Shire of Raventhorpe's decision, it was shared on multiple caravan and backpacker pages within hours.
Simon Flick runs a cafe and grocer in Hopetoun and said he was worried about the closure deterring tourists from visiting.
"We do get a lot of people coming in saying they came off the main road to get free camping," he said.
Mr Flick said he was concerned some travellers would bypass the town if there were no free camping sites.
"A lot of caravaners are on Wikicamps, which promotes local businesses that look after caravaners and campers," he said.
Hopetoun Beachside Caravan Park will operate the discount camping site next to its property.
Coordinator Rachel Small said the fee of $15 a night would attract visitors.
Ms Small said some visitors were using the existing free site poorly with human waste left in nearby bushland a common complaint.
"I think $15 a night is a very small amount to ask people to contribute to cover the cost of their stay in town," she said."And the caravan park makes a huge effort to make sure that we refer travellers on to all of our local businesses and share the love around a little bit.
"It's not only for our benefit, but for the benefit of all of our local businesses and residents as well."
The free camping site will close once the new site is open in the coming months.