Is Center Parcs Energy Efficient?

Center Parcs has always marketed its short break holidays as being environmentally friendly, offering the opportunity for families, couples and individuals to enjoy some relaxation and leisure time deep inside a forest location. At the end of 2011, their energy efficiency was validated when they were named top of the league table on energy efficiency and performance by the UK’s Environment Agency.

What is Centre Parcs?

The first Center Parcs holiday village was developed in 1987 in the forest in Nottingham known as Sherwood Forest. Although claimed to be the home of Robin Hood, it probably was not, but is still an outstanding area of natural beauty in central England. The concept of offering short break holidays within a protected forest had originally come from Holland, where it had proved exceptionally popular.

Open all year round, Center Parcs soon became a hit with people in the UK and four more villages were opened in the next few years. Longleat Forest in the county of Wiltshire, the Cumbrian forest of Whinfell and Elveden Forest in the East Anglian county of Suffolk are all still going strong and the chalets and forest apartments in all four locations are filled over 95% of the time.

Centre Parcs Amenities and Facilities

The forest environment for each Center Parcs village spans around 400 acres of natural and protected woodland and offers the peace and tranquillity of being deep in a forest with the modern accommodation and leisure facilities that most people want, whether on holiday in the UK or abroad.

The concept includes providing access to a large number of leisure facilities and activities from horse riding, trekking on foot, badminton, water sports, spas and spa treatments, tree walks and many activities specifically designed for families with children.

Only short break holidays are available, either a long weekend from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, or a mid-week break from Monday afternoon until Friday morning.

Energy Efficiency at Center Parcs

According to the report published by the Environment Agency, Center Parks comes up top with 22 other organisations from over 2000 other organisations when assessed for how they manage their use of energy over their whole operation. In the case of Center Parcs, this includes the way the company enhances and protects the forest while providing leisure facilities.

A few of the measures they have taken over the last few years to increase energy efficiency includes installing a fleet of electric cars. This is something that the company wanted to do for several years, but could not source vehicles with the necessary specification. No cars are supposed to be allowed within the forest, and people staying there need to park their cars outside the complex. Ferrying people around, and their luggage, therefore requires Center Parc’s vehicles that are energy efficient but that are also able to transport people in comfort.

Although Center Parcs was on the top of the list, and has been applauded for putting in place many monitoring methods to understand how its villages use energy, the company is not yet carbon neutral and needs to make yet more effort to reduces its carbon emissions, as its Chief Executive Martin Dalby admitted when the news of their position in the league table was announced.

Criticisms of Center Parcs

From an environmental view point, it is clear that Center Parcs does still have a long way to go to become completely energy efficient. It may compare well with other organisations, but using this type of comparison does not mean very much if most of its competitors are outrageously inefficient.

On its own website, the measures taken by Center Parcs, apart from the investment in electric vehicles, seem to be rather staid. They are replacing outdated white goods and electrical equipment with the most energy efficient – which is something that is impossible not to do. They are currently not yet making use of alternative methods of fuel such as solar energy or wind power, instead focusing on energy efficiency. To achieve full carbon neutrality, the group will need to make much more extensive changes.

It is also not clear exactly how the company does protect and enhance the forests where its holiday villages are sited. There have been recent complaints that the policy of allowing no client cars within the sites is more to do with preventing people leaving the complex to buy cheaper food. Apparently, the more pricey accommodation does now have its own car parking spaces.

A visit to trip advisor or any similar review site will also reveal and increasing number of negative reviews that claim that Center Parcs over charges. Few of the amenities are included within the basic price, which is quite high for a short break, and accommodation and facilities have been described as tired and dated.