East Suffolk Council has told Living In… that it has decided to allow larger campervans to park in twelve of its car parks.

It says: "Existing parking regulations prohibit any vehicle which exceeds 5.5m to park in any council-owned car parks. However, the Council has told Living In...Suffolk Coastal that it appreciates that this prevented those with larger campervans and motorhomes (known in the parking order as ‘motor caravans’) from visiting some areas and in an effort to support them, restrictions have now been relaxed in twelve car parks across the district.

A list of the twelve car parks is available at www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/campervans

Six of these car parks have lined parking places, including the car park at Southwold Pier which already has designated motor caravan bays. Designated motor caravan bays will also be introduced at The Grove and Manor Terrace car parks in Felixstowe. In addition, campervan and motor caravans are permitted to use the coach bays at Garrison Lane in Felixstowe, Belvedere Road in Lowestoft and Nicholas Everitt Park in Oulton Broad.

The remaining car parks are unlined and have a natural surface. This means that larger campervans and motor caravans, when parked considerately, do not present an issue for other car park users. One of these unlined car parks, Clifflands in Felixstowe, will have a designated motor caravan parking area installed.

Campervans and motor caravans using any of these twelve car parks should not exceed 8m in length.

As a courtesy to other drivers, vehicles exceeding 5.5m are not permitted to park in any other council-owned car parks as these have marked bays which are only suitable for use by cars and smaller vehicles. Allowing larger campervans and motor caravans to park in these car parks would restrict parking for other drivers.

Campervans which are less than 5.5m in length can park in any of East Suffolk’s car parks, within a marked bay.

Kerry Blair, Head of Operations at East Suffolk Council says: “We understand the frustration of the campervan and motor caravan community who have previously been unable to park in our car parks. We have now explored the various options which would enable larger campervans to use our car parks, whilst ensuring parking spaces remain available for cars. Lifting the size restrictions on twelve of our car parks was the best option and we are pleased that campervans and motor caravans longer than 5.5m can now use these designated car parks and enjoy a visit to one of East Suffolk’s beautiful towns.”

The formal parking order will be revised in due course to reflect the changes to these car parks.

Suitable vehicles are permitted to remain in council-owned car parks overnight but camping (i.e sleeping or cooking in vehicles) is not allowed."