We caravanners are generally a friendly and responsible lot. We’re usually considerate, too, but when it comes to taking responsibility for the environment, we’re not always as careful as we could be.
The good news is that caravanning is already pretty environmentally sound. After all, we spend most of our holidays outdoors, and we open our doors to grass and birdsong rather than the stale air and piped music of hotel corridors. We use the existing infrastructure of roads, cities, towns, villages and farms rather than the concrete deserts of purpose-built holiday resorts. In this respect, we have a head start over other holidaymakers when it comes to counting our green credentials.
But before we start polishing our haloes, here’s the bad news. Some sites can be described only as blots on the landscape, and many vans are eco-disasters on wheels. Some of our cars leak oil and belch smoke wherever they go. Even if we do maintain them carefully, very few of us can claim that there is nothing further we can do to help the planet. But it’s not really that hard to do more. With just a little thought, and by following the guidelines offered by a variety of organisations, we could become a whole lot better.
There’s certainly no shortage of advice on offer, from national caravan clubs through to Friends of the Earth. Local authorities aim to protect our environment through local planning regulations – especially in ensuring that caravan sites don’t visually blight the environment, and while we can’t do much to help, we can at least support their aims.
All these organisations are unanimous in their support for three things that caravanners can do to make a difference:
 • Choose environmentally aware sites.
 • Think about how we operate, both in the caravan and around the site.
 • Ensure that our cars are as environmentally friendly as we can make them.

Which sites are 'green' sites?
In the past, the only way to be sure of an environmentally friendly site was to plump for small CL-type sites. Greeted by little more than a field, a tap, and the great outdoors, you could hardly go wrong. Small was – environmentally, at least – beautiful.
But now medium-sized sites are also becoming more aware of the environment. The Caravan Club, for instance, carries out an ambitious rolling programme of biodiversity audits, followed by positive action, and runs a variety of ‘green’ activities. Three of its sites are even located on SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest).
The Camping and Caravanning Club is equally keen to promote ‘green’ caravanning. Many of its sites have introduced eco-friendly materials, increased energy efficiency, recycling, and honeycomb grid hardstanding that allows the grass to grow. Its Windermere site, which opened last year, was hailed by The Guardian as ‘the most environmentally friendly site in Britain’. The club recently appointed Dr David Bellamy as its president, to emphasise its comitment to the environment.
Both clubs try to ensure that all new facilities and sites meet the highest eco-friendly standards, and upgrade existing ones as resources allow. Even some of the biggest commerc
ial holiday parks are making efforts to become greener, so with a bit of foreplanning you can still holiday in the lap of luxury while doing your bit for the environment.
Choosing a ‘green’ park takes some thought, but help is at hand via the David Bellamy Conservation Awards, set up in 1996 in partnership with the British Holiday and Home Park Association and the Conservation Foundation, which assesses and grades parks on their environmental performance. Around 500 parks now belong to the scheme, including quite a few Camping and Caravanning Club sites. A park can apply to join the scheme by submitting a registration form. An evaluation is then carried out by Conservation Foundation assessors and local environmental experts, and site visitors are also encouraged to send in reports. Last of all, an independent assessment is done, with the final word coming from Dr Bellamy himself. He gives gold, silver or bronze awards to successful sites, with a special award for those parks that have retained a gold award for five consecutive years.
The scheme’s assessors seek answers to a number of questions. For instance, does the park address questions of energy efficiency, the possibility of energy generation, or of ‘green’ energy purchase? Does it combat light pollution? What does it do to reduce/recycle waste? Does it conserve water?
For building work and repairs, does it use local contractors and materials? Does it use low-toxicity paints, unbleached paper for its brochures, and long-life light bulbs? Does it pursue an eco-friendly purchasing policy? And what provisions does it make for eco-friendly transport? The list goes on.
And don’t think that once a site gets its award, that’s the end of the matter. Participating parks are actively involved in various schemes of environmental significance. These have included glow-worm surveys, a national ladybird audit, a breeding scheme for harvest mice, brown trout breeding, and schemes to encourage butterflies – to name but a few.


The David Bellamy Conservation Awards
Of the 258 sites carrying Gold David Bellamy Awards this year, South Lakeland Caravans boasts three – one for the sixth year in a row. Top of the list is Fallbarrow Caravan Park, on the shores of Windermere, which really goes the extra mile. It uses toilet Hippos and garden water butts to conserve water, has on-site recycling points for glass, paper and cans, and uses recycled paper in the office. It encourages wildlife with over 200 birdboxes scattered across the site, and uses a wildflower-friendly grass-mowing technique. Even its estate vehicles are fuel-efficient. And, as park manager Mark Hans-Brooker points out, it’s a win-win situation: “As well as being good for the environment,” he says, “conservation measures make good business sense by cutting back on waste.”
Further south, Holgates Caravan Park has a policy of conserving woodland and creating wildlife-friendly habitats, which means the site is not only beautifully landscaped and shady, but supports a rich population of birds, animals and plants. Frank Holgate, the site’s owner, explains: “Kids especially enjoy making new discoveries, and they take their new knowledge and understanding home with them.” And with all the footpaths so well-signposted, you don’t need to use your car to explore the stunning surroundings.
There are other big holiday parks that offer the same blend of luxury and environmental sensitivity. Sandy Balls, on the edge of the New Forest, carefully manages its woodland environment, into which it is reintroducing broad-leaved deciduous trees. It also encourages birds and butterflies, recycles waste, relies on home-made compost and runs a fleet of LPG and electric maintenance vehicles.
Another large park, Beverley Park in Torbay, carefully maintains its traditional Devonshire hedgerows and walls, and employs one member of staff specifically to promote conservation. It also runs a minibus service into town to reduce the number of guests making short journeys in their cars. But that’s not to say that the approach is pious and the surroundings spartan: this is a site that boasts the very best facilities and entertainment. And this is the point: you don’t have to live rough to live green.

What can you do?
We’ve provided a list of tips for greener caravanning on page 63, but one of the biggest areas of concern centres on driving. Caravanners are, by definition, car owners, so we must take on board all the environmental advice handed out to motorists. Motoring has come a long way in recent years – a single car in the 1960s would have created as much pollution as 20 cars produce today. Even so, until hydrogen fuel cells make it into mass production, cars are still environmental bad lads. The aim should be to minimise the damage.
This starts even before you get into the driving seat. Ensure that your car and caravan are properly serviced and are therefore working at peak efficiency. Check tyre pressure regularly – every half-bar under-inflation increases fuel consumption by five percent. If you use winter tyres, change to summer tyres as soon as practical. Don’t lug heavy weights about in the boot or the van unless you really have to. Use environmentally friendly car- and caravan-care products, and ensure that old tyres, oil, batteries and brake fluids are properly, and legally, disposed of.
In your car and ready to go? It’s time to think about fuel consumption. Over the course of a 4km journey, 80 percent of the emissions are generated during the first kilometre, when the catalytic converter is cold. All the more reason to avoid shorter journeys where ever possible. Also avoid rapid acceleration – it greatly increases your petrol consumption. Use a light throttle, and always drive in the correct gear for road conditions: your engine should neither be screaming nor labouring. Similarly, avoid driving flat-out: dropping to 75 percent of your top speed can halve fuel consumption. Turn off the engine if you’re likely to be stationary for more than 30-40 seconds – after that, it’ll take more fuel to keep the engine running than it would take to restart it. Make sure you switch off unnecessary electrics: a rear window heater alone uses up to 100ml of fuel for every hour that it is left on, and air conditioning can add up to five percent to your fuel bill. It’s a good idea to keep a fuel- and oil-consumption record, to warn you of possible problems if consumption of either suddenly increases.
A more expensive way of driving green, at least in the short-term, is to convert to LPG. The conversion process isn’t cheap at around £1700 for your average four-cylinder car, but you’ll save money at the pump, because it costs around 50 percent less than petrol and diesel. And if you’re worried about the availability of LPG on garage forecourts, don’t be – your existing fuel system stays in place, so your car becomes effectively dual-fuel. Have a look at www.powershift.org.uk, which has information on grants available for converting new cars. It also has a map of LPG garages throughout the UK.
If you drive a diesel car, look out for biodiesel. It’s made from sustainable vegetable material, which is usually mixed in with ordinary diesel. It’s no cheaper than regular diesel, but is more environmentally friendly, and your car won’t need to be converted. An increasing number of filling stations carry it, and if you can’t always find it you can just switch back to normal diesel. A word of warning, though: you must check compatibility, especially if your car is still under warranty.
So here are the secrets of green caravanning. For a start, conserve energy: 97 percent of British energy comes from non-renewable fossil fuels, so the less we use, the less quickly we’ll deplete the earth’s fuel-stock, and the fewer greenhouse gases we’ll generate. Then, choose your site carefully. Conserve and recycle, support the local community and respect local ecology. Maintain your car so that it will cause less damage to the environment. And think carefully when planning your holidays and picking your site. This issue comes with the David Bellamy Conservation Awards 2003-2004 Parks Guide, which will help you to choose a greener holiday. By picking Bellamy Award-winning sites, you will make other sites outside the scheme want to join, and to be accepted they will have to become more eco-friendly. With a little effort, you will be making for a greener and more pleasant land that we can all enjoy.

WORDS Jos Simon, ILLUSTRATION David Hitch.