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Highland councillors launch bid to force motorhome owners to stump up for tourist tax

An estimated 200,000 motorhomes visit the region every year - but they will be excluded from the tax if they park at the roadside.

Concerns about a rise in roadside parking have been raised if motorhomes are not included in a planned tourist tax for the Highlands. Image: Andrew Cawley/DC Thomson
Concerns about a rise in roadside parking have been raised if motorhomes are not included in a planned tourist tax for the Highlands. Image: Andrew Cawley/DC Thomson

A fresh bid to force motorhome owners to stump up for visiting the north has been made by two Highland councillors.

A planned tourist tax is on the way after being backed by MSPs at Holyrood in January.

But motorhome drivers will not be hit by the levy, unless they park at designated camping sites.

Lochaber councillor Kate Willis says the decision to exclude them will push more people towards parking at the roadside or wild camping.

She has lodged a motion that will be heard at a Highland Council meeting next week asking the local authority to protest the Scottish Government’s decision.

Councillor Willis, whose motion has been backed by her Green Party colleague Chris Ballance, said: “This is a major missed opportunity to generate revenue.

“That money could then be used to improve and provide the facilities that are needed.”

How would tourist tax on motorhomes work?

A Highland tourist tax would raise between £5m and £10m a year for the region.

That’s according to an assessment carried out by Highland Council in 2019.

Last year, council convener Bill Lobban told a Holyrood committee that it was “inconceivable” that a campervan could stay overnight at a registered site and pay a tourist tax but if they parked in a lay-by instead they wouldn’t.

Campervans are a very common sight along the NC500 in the summer. Image: Andrew Cawley

However, Cosla’s economy spokeswoman Gail Macgregor later told the same committee that trying to charge motorhome users would be difficult.

She suggested that it might end up costing more than it would raise.

Visit Scotland chief executive Malcolm Roughead had also previous raised concerns. He worried about scenarios where people were driving through several different council areas in one day.

Number plate recognition technology could play a role

An estimated 200,000 motorhomes visit the Highlands every year.

The difficulty with imposing a tax is that not all of their journeys are created equally.

If a motorhome is rented in the Highlands, an operator would know how many nights they were planning to stay and imposing a tax would be straight-forward.

But other scenarios are more complex.

Green councillor Kate Willis has raised the motion.

If it was rented elsewhere, or if the tourist owns the motorhome, determining how and when to charge becomes harder.

As well as asking the Scottish Government to re-consider the motorhome issue, councillor Willis wants to see local councils given the freedom to decide who should be excluded.

She said: “If a motorhome is hired through a hire company in the Highlands, you know how many nights they’ve hired for.

“If not, the technology is there these days for reading number plates on vehicles.”

Highland Council’s passport scheme

The number of motorhome users visiting the Highlands exploded during the pandemic.

Some of that has died down. But people living along the NC500 route are now accustomed to the madness that the summer tourist season brings.

Highland Council’s latest budget included a “motorhome passport scheme”.

This would involve tourists voluntarily paying £40 for a bumper sticker to put on their vehicle.

Deciding when and how to implement a levy on motorhomes has become a complex issue. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson.

The council hopes to raise £500,000 a year through the scheme, but that would require 12,500 people to sign up.

Critics of the plan have called the estimated figure “the height of optimism”.

Councillor Willis’s motion will be debated on March 14.

If a majority of councillors approve it, the council will raise its objections with the Scottish Government.

Conversation