Council warned not to punish towns with parking charge hike

Holiday visitors are likely to pay extra to use car parks in South Devon after councillors decided to go ahead with a pioneering two-tier charging strategy.

But they won’t be asked to stump up as much as the council originally planned.

Locals could get a discount on the new higher charges while tourists pay full price as South Hams Council raises its fees for the first time in four years.

Now a full public consultation will begin on the proposals.

The council has already consulted local town and parish councils, and there were concerns that tourists could be driven away.

Cllr Jonathan Hawkins (Con, Dartmouth and East Dart) told the meeting: “The feedback was that we were alienating visitors and potentially causing further damage to our town centres.”

And Cllr Nicky Hopwood (Con, Woolwell) added: “Why are we hitting on visitors? We need to be encouraging visitors into our towns for the sake of our businesses.

“And the cost of implementing this, because it is so complicated, is going to outweigh the benefits. We should re-think the whole thing.

“It is sending out a negative message to tourists, and my concern is that businesses will suffer.”

Council leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) said consultations had indicated that the council had been asking too much of visitors in its initial proposals, so the hike in charges could be scaled back.

Salcombe, Ivybridge and Dartmouth had said no to differential parking, while Dartmouth and Totnes said the proposals were too complicated.

Cllr Brazil went on to say the council would introduce a continental-style tourist tax if it could.

“When people come here they pay hundreds if not thousands of pounds a week to stay in cottages and apartments. We’re asking them to pay 50p.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this, but I think this is the fairest way of doing it, with locals paying a little bit more, and visitors paying a bit more on top of that.

“It means we protect our locals who are here all year round.

Residents who sign up to the proposed scheme would get a discount on prices displayed in district council-owned car parks.

The council points out that even with the increases, visitors to the South Hams will still be paying less for parking when compared to other similar tourist areas across Devon and Cornwall.

A public consultation will soon be launched where everyone can share their views. Councillors will discuss parking again in December and a final decision will be made in January.