MP hails Dales park saving energy and a much-loved bakery

18 June 2025

Yorkshire Dales MP Julian Smith took time out this summer to visit Riverside Caravan Park in Bentham in support of BH&HPA's "Parks Make Places" campaign.

The campaign aims to highlight park businesses which are bringing about positive change through their actions to benefit society, the economy, and the environment.

In the company of Riverside's co-owner Thomas Marshall, Sir Julian's first stop on his visit to the park was at Bentham's Country Harvest Bakery.

The 50-year-old artisan bakery, much valued by town residents and Riverside's holiday park guests, was recently saved from threatened closure when Thomas stepped in to buy the building.

The sale by its owners would have meant the business having to shut up shop with the loss of local jobs, but the park’s intervention means its future is now secure.

The MP then toured the park and officially switched on its new solar array project which Thomas explained was a big step towards the park's goal of energy self-sufficiency.

The carefully screened array comprises 480 panels harnessing the latest solar technology, and covers around half the size of a football pitch.

On a sunny day it can produce up to 240kva of green energy, not just for Riverside but also the town, helping reduce everyone's dependence on the national grid and minimising carbon pollution.

Julian Smith praised the initiative, stating, "It's great to see how Riverside Caravan Park is leading the way in both environmental sustainability and community support.

"The new solar array is a fantastic achievement, and BH&HPA's "Parks Make Places" campaign highlights the vital role caravan parks play in our local economies and communities."

Said Thomas: "Our family's holiday park is proud of the contribution it makes to the regional economy and the employment it enables us and other local enterprises to sustain.

"We are certainly not alone in providing this within the holiday parks sector, and BH&HPA's "Parks Make Places" campaign is drawing a great deal of attention from politicians at a national level.

"Our green energy project allows us to take our community support work one stage further, and it's great to think that Riverside's future energy needs are now being driven forward by sunbeams!" added Thomas.

Other discussions between Sir Julian and Thomas Marshall included the issue of caravan deliveries and abnormal loads in the North West which the MP said he would look to raise in Parliament.