Critique for New Management

New Management at the Brickyard

A Critique of the Management of the Brickyard Lakes Country Park
Some Comments and Suggestions

Margaret and Barry Williamson
December 2022

Introduction

We are a retired professional couple, former lecturers in further and higher education, and owners of an Atlas static caravan located on pitch KD8 in the Park since July 2021.

In his letter attached to an email from site manager Andrea Rowley of 1 December, Luke Thompson wrote: “Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns where we will be more than happy to assist.” With only a slight hesitation, we offer the following critique, including general concerns about the way in which the ownership of the Brickyard static caravan park changed hands over the latter half of 2022.

The Fees. So far we have received four versions of what the fees for 2023 might be.

On 1 December 2022, Andrea Rowley emailed us, with an attached undated ‘letter’ from Luke Thompson with no addressee. It included the following statement: “The site fees for 2023 season will be £4,200.00 inclusive of VAT. We will be introducing a maintenance fee of £300.00 plus VAT.” This would make a total of £4,560.

On 14 December 2022, Luke Thompson wrote again from Allerthorpe Resort with an email addressed to ‘Barry’. In it he did his best to sell Barry a ‘bespoke luxury lodge’, new or second hand, at Brickyard Lakes He went on to sell the surrounding part of North Yorkshire, an area Barry has known well for over 70 years although not in the travel and tourist agents’ hyperbolic language that Luke Thompson used. He also mentioned en passant that these benefits could be enjoyed for 12 months of the year, and that the “site fees are only £4,200 plus Vat”. There was no mention of a maintenance fee, thus giving a total of £4,800.

On 14 December 2022, one Cherie Marais emailed (from [email protected]) with an attached invoice that proposed a pitch fee of £4,000 plus Vat and a maintenance fee of £300 plus VAT. This gave a total of £5,160.

On 15 December 2022, Cherie Marais wrote again with an amended invoice, listing the same items and costs as before but with an ‘amount credited’ of £600. This gives a total of £4,560.

Summary
1   December        £4,560
14 December       £4,800
14 December       £5,160
15 December       £4,560

So we are back where we started, albeit by a tortuous route and a different calculation! If the £600 credit on 15 December was intended to be a refund of 20% VAT erroneously added to the fee of £4,000, the figure deducted should be £800, giving a total of £4,360. We await developments.

Explanation. Under paragraph 8.2 in our Site Licence Agreement, we are to be given a written explanation of the reason(s) for any increase which is proposed. We have had none.
Inflation. The new pitch fee is 20% higher than for 2022, whilst general inflation is less than 10% and will fall below that in the coming year.
Maintenance. A brief search on the web produced many examples of pitch fees, all of which include the site’s facilities and maintenance team support, gardening, lawn service, park landscaping etc (see attachment). These things should not now be a separate and additional cost. They were included in previous years.
Reduced Fee. Paragraph 8.6 in the Site Licence Agreement states that when maintenance fees were previously included in the pitch fee but have become a separate charge, the pitch fee should be reduced by the cost of that service.
Amount Credited. In the most recent invoice dated 15 December, £600 was deducted as an ‘amount credited’. Where did that figure come from, other than to make the total of £4,560 the same as that proposed in the letter of 1 December, albeit by a different means? Surely this is not proper or professional accounting.
Taking Account. Section 8.4 in the Site Licence Agreement states that the review of the pitch fee may take account of changes in rates, water charges, other charges, inflation, sums spent on the park for the benefit of the owners and changes in operating costs. Which of these apply?
Council Tax. Is this tax payable by each owner, or is this included in the pitch fee? Our invoice for 2022 listed ‘Holiday Home Site Fee’ and ‘Non-domestic rates’ as two separate items.
Pitch or Site? Is it a pitch fee or a site fee? Andrea Rowley and Luke Thompson both use the term site fee. Cherie Marais agrees with the Site Licence Agreement in calling it a pitch fee, which makes more sense. Which is it?
Lodge or Static? Luke Thompson in his Brickyard Lakes Facebook page and in his letter to Barry of 14 December refers only to ‘lodges’. The correct generic term, and the basis of the licence from the local authority, is ‘static caravan’. A ‘lodge’ sounds as if it should have lodgers whereas it is just estate-agent speak for a larger and more expensive static caravan. The previous regime could not agree the nomenclature and also used terms such as ‘holiday home’, ‘unit’, ‘van’ and ‘home’. Does the term ‘lodge’ now apply to all statics on the site?
What’s in a Name? Can there be agreement on what to call the owner of a static caravan? ‘Owner’. ‘Customer’. ‘Client’. ‘Holiday-maker’. ‘Caravanner’? We prefer the term ‘customer’, paying for a service and deserving to be treated as such with access to all the legal protections that accompany that status.
Opening Times. In his letter of 14 December and elsewhere, Luke Thompson refers to the site being open ‘all year’. Is this a new policy, with the site no longer closing through January?
Licence Length. Luke Thompson’s letter also claims that “each lodge license (sic) runs for 45 years with no upgrade policy”. Does this apply to all the static caravans on the site? At the moment, some licences expire next month.
Dogs. In his publicity material, Luke Thompson refers to the site as being “dog friendly”. Does this mean there will a dog walking/exercise area? A dog fouling area? Rules about collecting dog droppings? Bins to hygienically dispose of dog droppings? Rules about dogs being on a lead? A limit on the number of dogs per static caravan (our immediate neighbour has 5 noisy Schnauzers)? All these measures would be welcome, particularly by non-dog owners like us.
Two Faced. Why are there now two Facebook pages for the Brickyard? The old one has lost its group and all their entries (including ours) and there have been no posts on that page since July 2022. The new Facebook page is purely dedicated to Luke Thompson’s sales.
Reviews. The old Facebook page (‘Brickyard Lakes’) has 79 reviews averaging 4 stars, all from the days when the Brickyard was a very popular campsite. People came with their own caravans, motorhomes and tents (or just their fishing gear) and very much enjoyed themselves. The place had some life in those days. The new Facebook page, ‘Brickyard lakes (sic) Country Park’, has one review of five stars, with supporting text from a person with no connection to the Park. As Google reviewers with over 350,000 views, we would now give the Park between 2 and 3 stars, perhaps.
Kept in the Dark. The change of ownership has been handled very badly by both vendor and buyer. Although the matter had been under negotiation for several months, no information at all was given to customers though rumours abounded and still do. Fiona and Nigel disappeared without a word, leaving chaos and an unstaffed Reception behind them. After a gap, Andrea and Neil appeared to tell us they were the new Site Managers but were starting with a 3-week holiday. Luke Thompson made no attempt to meet any of the static owners while we were there.
Who’s Who. Who are the new site owners? All we got was Luke Thompson writing on 1 December: “We would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves. We are Prestige Country Parks and have now taken ownership of Brickyard Lakes Country Park which has added to our portfolio of seven parks within the Yorkshire area”. That made us very proud to know that we were in a portfolio, although to be precise, the Brickyard was added to six parks to make it up to seven.
Address. A small but important legal point. The Registered Office address of the Park on the recent invoice should not be Amotherby but a Business Park in Cambridge. That is also a place where all the directors appear to live.
Gas and Bitumen. There have been rumours and hearsay about tarmacking and a centralised gas supply to be installed during January (when the park may – or may not – be closed?) but no facts. Surely these are matters that concern customers, not least those needing gas bottle refills costing about £90, and those with full or part-full gas bottles (which means ALL OF US) that we have already paid for. Removal of the bottles from the statics would be stealing the gas unless a refund is given. There has been no consultation with customers about these changes, no information or reasons given. In fact we are never consulted at all; there is not even a suggestions box. Are your customers expected to pay for ‘improvements’ which only add to the value of your site and reduce the work of your staff?
Meeting Places. There is now an even weaker connection between customers and the service providers. There is nowhere at all for customers to meet, to get to know each other and, where necessary, take collective action. Even the closed group on the Facebook page has gone, although that had always been heavily censored by management. How can we communicate with each other now?
Hindsight. We are sure that we share a common feeling that we would not have bought a static caravan on the Brickyards site had we known how it was to be managed. We certainly can’t be bribed into recommending the site to any person we would like to retain as a friend.

We, and no doubt many other customers, look forward to a meaningful response to this critique.

Margaret and Barry Williamson