Project officer will help caravan site create income for Wick regeneration
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Plans to develop Wick's caravan and camping site into a facility that will generate money to benefit the town have taken another step forward with the appointment of a project officer.
The site at the riverside is approaching the end of its first season since being taken over by Wick Development Trust as a community enterprise, with profits ultimately going towards regeneration efforts.
Trust chairman Jonathan Miller outlined a range of improvements planned at the renamed Wick River Campsite over the coming years when he spoke at the monthly meeting of the town's community council this week.
“The main aim basically is to allow the development trust to generate an income so that we don't have to rely on as much public funding for the trust's other projects around Wick," Mr Miller explained.
“Any profit generated through the camp site, once the building works are complete, will be put back into local projects for the regeneration of the town.
“That was the main thought process behind us going for the caravan park. Yes, for the first three years it is going to be a development project, but after that it should fund other projects for the town.
"We have now appointed a project manager – his main role is going to be pushing forward the redevelopment of the caravan site. It's a three-year post and we are hoping he is going to start at the end of the month.
"Funding for that role came from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which is fantastic. We've got to part-fund some of it."
Wick is on the North Coast 500 route and the caravan site is a key part of the local tourism sector.
"Everybody who comes to the site has great things to say about it," Mr Miller said.
Terms were agreed with Highland Council for the lease of the site earlier this year and it opened to guests in June after a programme of work that included cleaning, painting, weeding, grass-cutting, planting flowers and erecting new signs. It will remain open until the end of October
“It is a project that Wick Development Trust has put a lot of time into," Mr Miller told community councillors on Monday.
“It has taken up a lot of our time and we're a bit short of numbers just now. That has been our main focus really since February/March.
"It has been going quite well. The timing of the launch obviously was not ideal – changing over a camp site during the tourist season.
"We opened on June 20, which is quite a considerable while after when we would like to have opened. It should be open from April 1 each year, so obviously we missed the first two-and-a-half months plus of trading, which was not ideal.
“There were various issues on site as well, to do with the electrics mainly.
"There have been a lot of challenges but to give Highland Council their due they've been sorting them out quite well so far. There's a few issues still to be resolved which, because of the type of work involved, you can't do until the off season once the site is closed.
“We'll be looking at things like upgrading power supplies. The whole site needed to be rewired. This was mostly completed by Highland Council prior to our entry date."
Mr Miller revealed that repeated problems were encountered with motorhomes hitting a railway bridge on the main access road to the site via Riverside Drive from Thurso Road. There is a secondary access along the river.
Mr Miller said the situation had improved after additional signs were installed, with warning chevrons, attached to a metal frame saying “Danger low bridge, maximum height 2.89m".
He said: “Unfortunately there's not much we can do about the bridge. You wouldn't believe how many people have driven straight into it because the van wouldn't fit underneath.
"It's not one or two – it was one or two a day. It was unbelievable. There's very little we can do about it other than warn people.
“Since we've put up the most recent additions it seems to have made a difference and we've had fewer incidents.
“It's something that we can't really change. We just need to mitigate that and it seems to be working.”
Mr Miller highlighted some of the short-term and longer-term tasks that are planned.
“This off-season we're looking at access around the site and some issues with drainage in terms of surface water," he said. "We're looking at more hardstanding access tracks around the site and maybe some more hardstanding pitches.
“The service block has obviously done its job over the years. It has now exceeded its lifespan and it needs to be replaced.
"Next year that's our main priority, to completely replace the facilities block. The aim is to put in a five-star facilities block with disabled access, showers, changing rooms, wash rooms and a big focus as well on reducing energy consumption.
“We're also looking at the waste disposal for campervans. There's a lot of work to be done."
Looking ahead to the third year, Mr Miller added: “The reception building and workshop area and stores have seen better days so the plan is to completely replace that whole area, possibly including an on-site café/shop."
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Miller said: "We are always on the lookout for new volunteers. Anyone who is interested in what we are doing and would like to get involved can contact us via email on chair@wicksheart.co.uk or through our Facebook page, Wick Development Trust."
