Flood defence work has earned a Welsh holiday park this year’s Leisuredays Risk Management Award.
The annual award recognises UK holiday parks that go the extra mile to protect their customers against the effects of insurance risks such as storm, flood, fire and theft by implementing relevant mitigation measures.
The third-generation, family-run Spring Gardens Holiday Park in St Asaph, Denbighshire, was presented with the award for their investment and hard work to protect the park and its customers from future flooding.
Spring Gardens was one of a number of UK holiday parks hit by torrential rain from Storm Ciara in February 2020. The riverside park flooded after the River Elwy came over the banking, damaging a number of holiday caravans, sheds, garden rooms, contents and decking.
The park owner Gwyn Williams, and his grandson and park manager, Tom, were devastated when the river overtopped onto the park, also flooding their on-site family home.
The park also had to evacuate some holiday caravan owners and it was forced to close for two weeks so it could clean up the park.
Leisuredays static caravan insurance cover includes debris removal at no extra cost to the customer or the park, helping to remove unsightly damage quickly.
After a number of park visits, Leisuredays’ flood consultant looked at ways of mitigating future flood risks, and work started to raise replacement static caravans and lodges above the flood levels. Replacement caravans and lodges, decking, and storage sheds were ordered and bought via the park at a cost of more than £300,000 to the insurer.
Because of the flood defence work, Leisuredays have been able to continue to provide flood insurance cover to the park’s customers. The raised bases are now well above the peak river levels experienced in the flooding of 2020.
The Williams family (Tom, Haf and Gwyn) were presented with the Leisuredays’ Risk Management Award by Leisuredays’ Director Chris Nettleton.
Chris said the family had been very proactive in mitigating future losses and have also worked hard to lobby the local authorities to raise the river banking near the park.
“They’ve worked closely with us, our underwriters and our flood consultant to protect their customers. Their investment and hard work to reduce the chances of future flood damage makes them a worthy winner of the Leisuredays’ Risk Management Award.”
Spring Gardens park manager Tom Williams and grandfather Gwyn thanked Leisuredays for their continued support.
“We were thrilled with how quickly Leisuredays were on site and the speed at which they have dealt with the insurance claims,” said Tom. “The Leisuredays’ team has continued to support us and together we’ve worked hard to protect our customers from future flooding. We’re delighted to be able to continue to offer flood insurance cover for our customers.”
For information about Leisuredays static caravan and park home insurance cover click the links at the top of the page.
