Charges introduced in 129 forest car parks

5 hours ago

Patrick HughesSouth of England

Drivers without a Forestry England membership will have to pay charges starting from £1.50 for one hour

BBC A car park. A sign in the foreground reads "Nomansland Green, Forestry England." It is black and green with a cut-in symbol of a tree on the wood. In the background several cars are parked on gravel and a road between the two sides of the car park leads into a forested area. — Drivers without a Forestry England membership will have to pay charges starting from £1.50 for one hour

New charges for 129 car parks in a national park are being introduced, despite ongoing concerns from residents and business owners.

Motorists using car parks in the New Forest managed by Forestry England (FE), with motorists having pay £1.50 per hour, up to £8 for more than four hours.

Nick Hubbard, chair of Beaulieu Parish Council, said he viewed the charges as a "disability tax" which could also exclude people on lower incomes and questioned why no concessions have been made available.

FE said parking fees were necessary because of the increasing cost of repairing car parks and conserving the forest.

Nick Hubbard, chair of Beaulieu Parish Council, said he believes the charges will be extremely difficult to enforce

Nick Hubbard is wearing a brown jacket and pink shirt and has short grey hair. He is looking down at his notes on a clipboard while standing in a car park. Behind him are several parked cars, a wooden fence and trees and bushes. — Nick Hubbard, chair of Beaulieu Parish Council, said he believes the charges will be extremely difficult to enforce

Beaulieu Parish Council last week submitted a 35-page document to FE arguing that the organisation had not fully considered the impact of car park charges.

"We're really concerned about people who are on state pensions, people on disability living allowance, people on universal credit - they won't be able to afford these charges," said Nick Hubbard, chair of the council.

"If you go to other parks like Dartmoor or Exmoor, there are concessions for people who have got disabilities. They're big discounts, and nothing is being applied here."

"We believe that this is a disability tax being imposed."

He also argued that rangers will have difficulty enforcing the charges.

"People won't want to pay the charges, so they'll park on the verges, they'll park in the villages," he said.

FE's Richard Burke, said the roll-out of the scheme had been "fair"

Richard Burke is wearing a green Forestry England branded jacket with a blue jumper and a blue and white checked shirt. He has short grey hair and a grey beard and is looking at the camera. The background is out of focus but shows resurfacing works with diggers in the forest. — FE's Richard Burke, said the roll-out of the scheme had been "fair"

Forestry England said that without a sustainable funding stream, both the forest and tourism would suffer.

Richard Burke, head of regional land management said: "This allows us to close the gap on the deficit."

"It helps us to plant trees, restore habitats, provide car park facilities and toilets, and deal with flytipping.

"It isn't just a case of throwing down a bag of gravel These car parks need additional work to keep them in a good condition," he added.

He said that with 15.6 million people visiting the national park each year, car parks were "deteriorating really quickly."

Twelve new parking rangers, as well as two managers and a coordinator, will be responsible for enforcement.

Burke said they would monitor for "potential displacement parking" and issues such as parking on verges outside of designated car parks.

Earlier this month, Hampshire County Council said it was banning parking on 116 roads, to prevent displacement parking.

Burke also said that with regards to concessionary passes, he believed the current scheme complied with the Equality Act and was fair, but that FE would continue to review the position.

Dog walker John Roberts from Bashley said he begrudgingly purchased FE's yearly membership

John is wearing a brown jacket with a red and black chequered shirt, and has a ginger-grey beard. — Dog walker John Roberts from Bashley said he begrudgingly purchased FE's yearly membership

John Roberts from Ashley takes his dog Alfie out for walks in the forest every day.

He said he paid the £96 fee for the nationwide Forestry England membership, which allows one household unlimited parking in the New Forest, but felt the sum was too high.

"I didn't want a nationwide one, but there's no choice to buy a local one in the New Forest."

"The car parks have been atrocious. They were virtually unusable."

"They have done work now, and that's a good thing. But they always had to anyway, the car parks weren't fit for purpose."

Duane Lewis owns seven venues in the New Forest, including the Lamb Inn in Nomansland

Duane is wearing a navy jacket and blue shirt and is standing across the road from his pub, the Lambs Inn, which is visible in the background. — Duane Lewis owns seven venues in the New Forest, including the Lamb Inn in Nomansland

Duane Lewis who owns seven pubs including the Lamb Inn in Nomansland which is directly opposite one of FE's car parks, said he would be waiting to see the effect of the charges.

"We're concerned about whether those fees will affect turnover, in what is a challenging industry already."

"Some rules should have been discussed," he said. "From our point of view, if you'd have said 'parking from 6 o'clock to midnight would be free', that would be great."