Wick's revamped caravan site on course to be 'highly profitable' for town regeneration
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Wick's caravan and camping site is on course to be "highly profitable for the town" following a major programme of improvements.
Wick Development Trust is operating the Wick River Campsite as a community enterprise and profits will ultimately go towards local regeneration efforts after a three-year plan to upgrade the facilities.
Prospects for the new season are described as "really positive" with 1850 bookings so far. That figure exceeds the 1600 total for last year, albeit it was a shortened season as the site only opened in June.
Highland Council paid for an upgrade of the main electrical supply into the site, while hook-up capacity has been trebled by installing new bollards and replacing others.
The toilets were improved, two new access tracks were created, drainage improvements were carried out and a dozen electric hardstanding areas were installed.
The site now has new timber gates and fencing, as well as children's play equipment and a barbecue area with picnic tables.
Trust chairman Jonathan Miller said: “We've been trying to improve the site at every opportunity.
“That was phase one, completed over the winter. We're now doing another batch of smaller upgrades, albeit just as important, which are ongoing just now, but phase two will be programmed in for next off-season and phase three the following off-season.
"We're trying to stick to that as best we can.
“The long-term goal obviously is, once that's finished, every penny of profit will go into town centre projects. That's what we're trying to stick to.
“Given what we've managed to do in a short space of time, it has been quite impressive how it has all come together. And given the numbers that we're getting in, it backs up our thinking that it can be highly profitable for the town.
“At the end of the day, that's what we are trying to do – we're trying to make it as profitable as possible so that the town can benefit as much as possible from it.
“We've had quite a few nice comments from local folk saying that it's looking good. It's nice to hear.”
The site is owned by Highland Council and leased to the development trust. It is open from the beginning of April until the end of October and three staff do the day-to-day running, one full-time and two part-time.
Sarah Lamb is five weeks into a three-year post as Wick Development Trust project officer, funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
“For the May Day weekend we had 55 in, which we weren't expecting so early in the season," Ms Lamb said. "That has superseded our busiest period in July last year.
"We already have more pre-bookings this year than we had total bookings last year – although there was a later start to it, in June.
“We are finding that people are booking their trips months ahead, planning their tour of the Highlands. We get the walks-ins as well on a daily basis, so it's looking really positive for the season ahead.
“We've just been given an award from pitchup.com because we scored an 8.9 review rating. That's the website that we take bookings through as well as our own website.
"We're getting lots of feedback from the toilet refresh and things like that, and even local folk when they're walking past are saying 'you're doing a great job with that place'. So people in the community are taking notice of the changes that are happening.”
Support has been provided by Alistair Jack, development trust support officer at Caithness Voluntary Group (CVG).
Mr Miller said: “Alistair is involved in everything we do and has been for a while now. His role has certainly been a big help to us.”
An award of £39,000 came from Highland Council's Community Regeneration Funding towards the new road layout and hardstanding pitches, new electric hook-ups, drainage and entrance fencing. The Caithness Community Fund administered by CVG awarded £2487 towards the children’s play equipment and barbecue area.
Funding of £16,000 came recently from Caithness and North Sutherland Fund to install wi-fi and signage and to help with preliminary work for a new toilet block and communal facilities building. The wi-fi is due to be installed next week.
Mr Miller said: “I think by the time we are done of the next phase of upgrades that we're pulling together just now, I would reckon it would be getting close to £200,000 that has been spent here in the last year and a bit – which is a colossal amount of money.
“A lot of that, it has to be said, has come from Highland Council. They put a lot of money into the site before we were given access because it just wasn't up to standard.
“They rewired the whole place before we got access and then they stumped up a considerable amount for the new electrical supply.
“Highland Council has been really good – a lot of the guys have been brilliant to work with and we've been able to get a lot of things sorted out between us. They have been pretty committed to working with us to get things resolved."
Ms Lamb also pointed out that volunteers have played an important part in getting the site up and running.
