A call to double the price of individual National Park car park season tickets has been rejected by members of the authority after concerns about the cost-of-living crisis.

At their September 23 meeting, members of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority reviewed season ticket prices ahead of the 2027 season, with officers recommending a rise to £100 for some tickets.

The park charges at 14 car parks and has offered two season ticket options since 2017, alongside normal pay-as-you-go rates.

The two tickets cover either a single location or all sites and cost £50 and £140 respectively; officers recommended raising the single-site price to £100 to tackle the current near threefold “price anomaly”.

In 2025, 207 all-sites season tickets were sold, while single-site tickets sold were: Saundersfoot 323, Poppit Sands 213, Little Haven 172, OYP St Davids 129, Freshwater East 119, Amroth 112, Solva 39, Newport Sands 30, Newgale 28, West Angle 22, Penally 22, Broadhaven 14, Manorbier eight and Nolton Haven eight.

A report to members said the £50 single-site ticket cost the same as 12.5 weeks of average pay-and-display parking, while the charging season lasted more than 35 weeks.

Parking revenue goes into the park’s general fund to help pay for other facilities and services.

Cllr Simon Hancock called for discounts for people on Universal Credit, but was told similar schemes had virtually “zero uptake”.

Cllr Huw Murphy said the £50 rate brought in nearly £62,000 a year, rising to £123,000 if the price went up to £100.

“I wouldn’t be supporting such an increase, especially now when fuel is nearly £2-a-litre in a cost-of-living crisis.”

Cllr Murphy proposed a compromise rate of £70, adding: “I’m struggling with a doubling of the fee; we are proposing to go £47 above the rate of inflation here today.”

Cllr Vanessa Thomas proposed a £75 rate after Cllr Di Clements formally moved the officers’ recommendation of £100.

Cllr Michael Williams seconded the amendment and objected to the “100 per cent increase”, adding: “Everyone is being put under pressure, we should respect that.”

Cllr Thomas’s amendment passed by eight votes to four, raising individual season ticket prices to £75 from next year.

The normal pay-as-you-go rates range from free parking for up to 30 minutes to £8 for a full day.

The two season-ticket prices last rose in 2023, from £25 to £50 for a single site and from £70 to £140 for all sites.

The report said both ticket types allowed unlimited use by one motor vehicle at a time, with the all-sites ticket adding only the benefit of parking across different locations.