Park changes bring tourists closer to nature

Local Government Minister Tony Simpson said changes to the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 allowed more nature-based parks throughout WA, offering families an affordable way to holiday and enjoy the State’s natural assets.

More holiday-makers will have the chance to camp in nature-based parks in Western Australia this year with regulations easing restrictions on their location now in effect.

WA has 25 licensed nature-based parks, which are small-scale tourist accommodation in a natural landscape. Visitors can experience nature in a setting free from noise and artificial light. The rule that they must be 50 kilometres from a caravan park has been removed.

Mr Simpson said the new regulations required nature-based parks to meet consistent minimum standards wherever they were in WA, providing assurance for holiday-makers and encouraging greater investment in the industry.

“The new regulations define a nature-based park, where there was ambiguity before. They improve the minimum health and safety requirements and impose a responsibility on the owners to advertise limited facilities. Visitors will have greater clarity about what to expect,” he said.

“Operators wishing to establish a nature-based park will now have to submit a plan detailing how the park will be designed and managed, and the facilities available.

“There will more surety about what to expect from nature-based parks, and this is better for everyone – local governments, operators and holiday-makers.”

Nature lover Linda Blyth of Bunbury and friends have just spent the Christmas-New Year break camping and exploring Nornalup, Parry’s Beach and Gladstone Falls, in WA’s south, saying it ‘was a real treat to breathe the beautiful air’ and cherish the ‘serenity, swims and nature’.

The changes to the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 were the result of a three-month consultation by the Department of Local Government and Communities with local governments and other stakeholders.