IT was launched 10 years ago to help boost visitor numbers to places normally off the beaten track in the Highlands.
But for many people living on ‘Scotland’s Route 66’, the popularity of the tourist trail has become a bane rather than the boon they expected.
And now frustrated locals on the North Coast 500 (NC500) are demanding an overnight ban on camper vans in council car parks in a bid to cut fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.
Highland Council’s Sutherland county committee will meet today to discuss the ban. It comes after residents in Durness and Golspie complained tourists are being ‘dumped’ in their villages. They claim a scheme to clamp down on indiscriminate parking by encouraging campers to use council car parks has led to a spike in motorhomes.
The Highland Council project to stamp out rogue overnight parking began last year. It costs £40 for seven days and offers the use of 12 council-owned car parks for overnight stays – but waste disposal is not included.
Sutherland councillor Hugh Morrison said: ‘The community councils in certain areas along the NC500 are very unhappy about the way Highland Council have dumped these mobile homes in their villages through this overnight scheme.’
Now a motion by councillors Richard Gale and Jim McGillivray says: ‘Given the impact of overnight parking of camper vans in council car parks leading to inappropriate waste disposal and other anti-social behaviour, the Sutherland Area Committee agrees to impose a ban on all overnight camper van and motorhome parking in council car parks.’
But officials say the ban may backfire. A report said: ‘There could be an unintended consequence if displaced motorhomes choose to park in laybys/wild camping rather than go to designated sites.’