Isle of Skye: Calls for toll on motorhomes and campervans visiting island

There are growing calls for a compulsory toll on motorhomes visiting Skye.

Campaigners say a visitors tax would help fund repairs to crumbling roads to cope with thousands of the vehicles flooding in during the summer season.

Meanwhile an optional fee introduced by Highland Council last month has angered campsite operators who say that it could destroy their business.

The growth in motorhome and campervan traffic is all too familiar a sight on Skye, as elsewhere in the north of Scotland.

With hotel and B&B accommodation prices peaking mid-summer, vehicle-hire cost can be extremely competitive.

Talk of ‘Skye’ and ‘tolls’ in the same sentence may raise eyebrows, with memories of bridge toll protests in the 1990s.

But the compulsory tax on campervans crossing the water is being mooted as a way of generating funds to properly maintain many miles of heavily worn single-track roads.

Campaigners call for motorhomes toll on Skye STV News

Simon Cousins of tourism body SkyeConnect said: “We believe that there needs to be some form of toll coming onto Skye, at the bridge and the two ferry ports.

“Now, that doesn’t have to be barriers and a man sitting in a booth taking £10 off a campervan. Technology these days allows us to use numberplate recognition to subsequently charge campervans for coming on the island.

“We believe it is right that campervans pay their way. What that charge might look like, that’s for discussion and consultation. But we do believe that they do need to be charged and the money needs to come back to Skye.”

Such a levy would be in addition to a Scotland-wide tourism bed-tax, legislated by the Scottish Government and scheduled for 2026.

Highland Council, which is responsible for the maintenance of more than 4,000 miles of roads, has entered the debate.

It introduced a voluntary scheme last month that offers motorhomers the option to buy a £40 weekly ticket to use a number of designated council carparks for overnight stays.

Campsite owner Christine Brennan STV News

The fee includes use of showers at the local authority’s leisure centres.

However, there is a downside that could impact a lucrative portion of tourism – campervanners and campsites, which are estimated to be worth almost £1bn a year.

Christine Brennan, who owns Kinloch Campsite at Dunvegan, said: “We could have to close if the campers decide that they don’t want to pay to come here, and they pay £40 and just park up in the car park over there. We could end up losing a lot of money.”

Skye councillor Drew Millar is disappointed that a motorhome tax was not included in the national ‘visitor levy’.

He said: “We’re missing a trick, there.

“Last summer, over three months in May, June and July, there were over 3,000 campervans parked in lay-bys and quarries all over Skye. We should be charging them something.”