Our Green Policy
Working to reduce our Carbon Footprint
Our business is reliant on visitors coming to enjoy the stunning Somerset countryside and we feel that it is our responsibility to do everything that we can to help repair the planet and reduce our carbon footprint, which is why we are proud to announce that West Country Parks has partnered with zero carbon specialist, Energy Oasis. Through our partnership, we have committed to a three-phase plan that will see our business use less fossil fuels whist providing future energy security across our holiday parks. It is important to us that, as a business, we act now to help preserve the natural world for future generations to enjoy.
To date, we have completed solar panel installations at four of our holiday parks, which will see our business save a combined 58.50 tonnes of carbon per year - that's the equivalent of planting 2,690 trees every single year!
The work in developing our business is an ongoing process and details of the further phases of our plan will emerge as we continue to maintain our responsibility towards energy usage.
Find out more about our Green Goals for 2024.
Local Food and Drink
We endeavor to procure locally grown or produced food and drink food options at our clubhouses wherever possible. Enjoy the true taste of Somerset happy in the knowledge that your purchase is helping the local economy.
Our local suppliers include the award winning Buxton Butchers, Arthur David, Marshfield Farm Ice Cream
and Thatchers Cider.
Waste Management
Waste management is closely monitored at all of our parks. To date, our waste management partner has achieved a target of 0% of waste to landfill
on every single one of our parks.
Additionally;
- All recyclable waste is segregated at the transfer stations where possible.
- Combustion gases are cleaned before they are released into the atmosphere.
- There are no direct discharges to groundwater from the facility.
David Bellamy Blooming Marvelous Pledge for Nature
We are proud to announce that Riverside Holiday Village
has taken the David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Nature.
The Pledge for Nature focuses 100% on wildlife and demonstrates our commitment to improving existing habitats for wildlife, creating new wildlife habitats and features where possible, managing greenspace in as environmentally friendly a way as possible, involving everyone
in wildlife conservation and engaging with local conservation bodies and projects.
It is our intention to take The Pledge for Nature across all of our holiday parks - we look forward to updating you of our progress!
Green Tourism Grading
Our popular Riverside Holiday Village is thrilled to have been awarded a Green Tourism 'Silver' Award.
This award certification programme recognises the commitment of tourism businesses, like ourselves, who are actively working to become more sustainable.
Several of the park’s initiatives were highlighted including; excellent examples of how to put across our green story and projects, a strong commitment to promoting and facilitating sustainable travel options for visitors, great examples of best practice reflecting our commitment to lowering our carbon output and an outstanding knowledge of the local area and how to enjoy it responsibly.
Plastic Free Champion
Launched by Surfers Against Sewage, and supported by Cleaner Coastlines and Plastic Free Weston-super-Mare, the Plastic Free Communities campaign works to support businesses (like ourselves) who are committed to removing avoidable single-use plastics.
To achieve the Plastic Free Champion Award, a business needs to remove at least three single-use plastic items and show a commitment to tackling any others present in the business moving forwards - and that’s exactly what we have done!
Our 'Green' News
Providing a clean and attractive destination for our visitors to enjoy not only benefits our business, it also positively impacts our local community and the wider environment. Which is why we have committed to join Surfers Against Sewage Million Mile Clean . Now the biggest initiative of its kind in the UK, the Million Mile Clean is an annual event, mobilising 1,000,000 million volunteers to clean over 10,000,000 miles of UK landscape between 2021 - 2030. It’s reported that more than 2 million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day at a cost of £1 billion to the taxpayer. So, we are asking visitors and the local community to get pro-active and join us at Riverside Holiday Village near Weston-super-Mare on Thursday 24th April from 11.00am - 1.00pm for an organised 2 mile ‘litter pick’ along Bridgwater Road (Hospital Roundabout - Hobbs Boat Inn). ‘Clean Kits’ will be provided; we’re just asking for 2 hours of your time to help clean up this public space.
We are proud to share that Riverside Holiday Village has achieved the Environmental and Sustainability Award at the prestigious Somerset Business Awards 2025. This award recognises companies or individuals who can demonstrate a positive and long-term impact on the environment within their businesses. With evidence to show how they have improved environmental performance, implemented the efficient use of resources or supported sustainable development or environmentally-friendly schemes. We were also shortlisted for the Medium Business of the Year Award . Speaking about the awards, David Crew, Somerset Chamber Managing Director, said; 'Every year the awards recognise and honour the achievements of our vibrant business community. The economic situation may be challenging, but Somerset’s business community had again shown resilience and excellence across all sectors.'. Commenting after the awards dinner, which was held at The Winter Gardens Pavillion in Weston-super-Mare, David Tattersall, Group Manager at West Country Parks, commented; 'We are delighted to have achieved this award. As a business, we have become increasingly aware of our environmental responsibilities; from reducing waste and energy use, to increasing biodiversity and supporting eco-friendly initiatives, we have really embraced this element of our business over the last few years and it's fantastic to have had all of our hard work recognised.' We would like to thank our visitors, supporters and all of our fantastic team for your support.
Despite this being our busiest ever start to the season, we’ve still found the time to make some fantastic progress over the last 3 months and we are proud to share the first of our quarterly updates for 2025