A caravan owner in Aberdeenshire has blasted a charity who runs the site after annual fees were increased by 43%.
Graham Allardyce, a 64-year-old car valeter from Peterhead, has a static caravan at Aden Caravan and Camping, which is located at Aden Country Park in Mintlaw.
The site which is home to 16 static caravans, 21 touring and 10 camping pitches, has been run by Buchan Development Initiative (BDI) since 2013.
BDI, is the social enterprise team of the Buchan Development Partnership (BDP), which is an independent, community-led charity working with communities across Buchan.
Mr Allardyce was notified of the increase in fees to keep his caravan at the site towards the end of last year.
They will rise from £1,840 to £2,640.
Cost-of-living crisis one of the reasons for increase
BDI said the increase in fees was due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, how its rates compared to comparable sites and to update pods, as well as the disabled and wardens’ caravan, amongst other things on site.
However, Mr Allardyce does not see any justification for this, saying: “As residents, we do not use any of these facilities stated and don’t see why we should be penalised for this.”
Mr Allardyce has been using the site for the past 16 years and has had a static caravan on it for the last eight.
A meeting arranged by BDI was cancelled.
Despite this, the organisation did respond to questions from residents.
Mr Allardyce said they never had any of these problems when Aberdeenshire Council was in charge of the site, which is open for seven months a year between the start of April and the end of October.
Aden fee increase ‘brings us up in line with everybody else’
BDI is currently run by four directors, Bill McLaren, Colin Simpson, Lynn Smith and Maureen Stephen respectively and responding to Mr Allardyce’s claims.
Mrs Smith said: “We’re very careful about the prices that we charge and I think we’re on a par with other caravan sites.
“The fees have been quite low for quite a long time, so there is an increase this year, but it just brings us up in line with everybody else.
“We’re a social enterprise, so any money that’s made in this site goes back into the site, and surplus goes to the BDP, which is our charity.
“We’ve just taken on the cafe (at Aden Country Park), so the burden should be less on the site to provide resources for the BDP, because they do a powerful amount of work.”
Mrs Smith added: “Everybody in the Mintlaw area sees an increase in their income with the visitors from here, so it has a knock on effect in the community as well.
“I don’t think people realise how nice it is round this area and I think the Aden Country Park is the jewel in the crown for the north-east and Aden Caravan and Camping play a little bit of part in that.”
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