Over the past few years in Cornwall we have seen a large increase in the number of people opting to live in a van. TravellerSpace would like to extend out support services to include those of you in vans living roadside. To do this effectively we need to hear from you. TravellerSpace would like your input to help shape our services and make sure that what we offer reflects what is actually needed .
We have a short survey at https://shorturl.at/g5Wne or if you’d like to talk in person leave a message on 01736 887510 and we’ll get back to you.
Thank you for taking the time to comment, we really appreciate it, it helps us plan what to do next and understand what is useful to you. Answers are all collated anonymously, (unless you’d like to be contacted, in which case please add contact details).
We will not share any details with anyone that may identify you or where you park. If there’s anything you don’t want to comment on or answer that’s fine.
Our baseline assessment has had a fantastic response. We shared it to various van dweller groups on social media, where it was re shared many times by van dwellers with positive comments. TravellerSpace staff visited around 100 vans and interviewed those who wanted to speak to them and left fliers when people weren’t in with a link to the survey. We saw some of these being reposted on social media with remarks such as ‘it’s so nice to have something positive left on my windscreen instead of a note telling me to leave’
To date we have 55 responses, many with detailed responses about the challenges of this way of living, the isolation, the lack of basic services such as access to water, somewhere to shower and wash clothes.
It is clear to see that our service is needed and wanted.
| Findings from the Van Dweller survey |
| 53% are men and 47% women |
| The youngest respondent is 21 and the oldest 74. 44% are over 50 |
| 82% want a safe place to park as the most important issue |
| Over 65% want somewhere to shower and wash clothes |
| A third want somewhere to meet others in the same situation |
| One in six want help with benefits and other information, and access to health services |
| The amount of time living roadside ranges from 2 weeks and 35 years. 10 of the respondents have been roadside for less than a year. |
| Almost all identified lack of access to drinking water as a problem |
We had our first meeting on Tuesday 20th May from 4-7pm, to fit in with working patterns.
It was really well attended – it was great to see the car park full of vans of all shapes & sizes!
Soup & snacks went down really well – unfortunately we don’t have our shower installed yet but watch this space 😊 The group seemed keen on setting up an Instagram account where people can post photos etc, and our lovely volunteer Edie is happy to do that for us.
We’ll be meeting every week at the same time from now on