Tenby seen as nothing more than a 'cash cow' for Pembrokeshire County Council

Councillors in Tenby have reiterated views that the Local Authority uses the resort that is seen as the ‘jewel in Pembrokeshire’s crown’ as nothing more than a ‘cash cow’ to generate revenue, very little of which seems to be spent in seaside town itself!

The comments were sparked during discussions on parking charge hikes for the town, with Tenby’s Mayor calling on Pembrokeshire County Council’s streetcare manager to ensure that traffic wardens stopped turning a ‘blind eye’ to the centre of the seaside town being ‘jammed up’ with illegally parked vehicles.

Members of Tenby Town Council recently held a meeting with PCC’s streetcare manager Marc Owen over various parking problems that were experienced in the town - with everything from increased charges at off-street parking facilities and resident parking permits coming under the spotlight.

The matter came up for discussion at a recent meeting of Tenby Town Council, when members discussed correspondence from PCC that highlighted an increase in charges to the council run car parks, which came into force recently, ahead of the holiday season.

New Mayor Cllr Dai Morgan referred fellow councillors to notes from discussions with Mr Owen, with a view to bringing other opinions to the table.

With regards to PCC’s parking enforcement officers, Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall told her fellow members that she knows the ‘traffic wardens’ are doing a job, but she personally felt, when they are out in force first thing in the morning it was all about ‘generating revenue’ for the Local Authority - which she felt was ‘not acceptable’.

She reiterated her view that Tenby seems to have to ‘bear the brunt’ for many things and does not get much back in return.

“I too have felt this for some time,” remarked the Mayor. “Pembrokeshire County Council do not seem to be investing the pennies back!”

He revealed that he had been speaking to an elderly person who had one wheel parked on double yellow lines and got a ticket at 5.50 am in the morning.

“That very same day, Tenby’s High Street was jammed up with illegally parked cars - there were two ‘traffic wardens’ walking side by side through the town and neither batted an eyelid! Does Mr Owen not see what is going on? It cannot carry on like it is!” he added.

With regards to a discussion on the ability to purchase a ‘holiday’ permit for use in ‘resident parking bays’, the clerk said that he understood that a Notice of Motion submitted by county councillor for the town’s North ward Cllr Michael Williams requesting that PCC immediately ceases issuing permits to other than permanent residents for this scheme had gone before the Local Authority, and referred to Cabinet for discussion.

Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blachall said that in her role as county councillor for the South ward, she had spoken to Mr Owen on numerous occasions and was currently awaiting further feedback.

She said she was also currently speaking to her constituents, specifically in areas where there are not enough bays for permit holders.

“There is an undercurrent caused by visitors coming and using seasonal tickets provided by the holiday property owner which needs to be readdressed,” she remarked, stating that she was pleased that Mr Owen also now believes that the current system isn’t working at long last.

Cllr Charles Dale welcomed the Puffin permits which should be promoted to encourage owners of Air bnb’s and holiday lets to purchase transferable car park permits for their guests rather than ‘holiday’ permits being issued for residents’ bays.

He said he doesn’t believe there should be any type of holiday permits issued for use in resident parking bays.

Cllr Dale noted that The Green car park is free in winter, but stated that we need it to be free in summer.

Also, he felt, that a change of balance was much needed, with the scheme currently not designed to stop a household having a permit and a holiday maker getting a permit for the same property - an aspect that ‘needs to go’ he reiterated.

Cllr Dale noted that Mr Owen said he was happy to consider any ideas whereby resident permit holders could have concessionary rates in car parks.

“No - this should be free not concessionary! We are asking residents to pay three times, they pay with car tax, for a permit and then are asked to pay again in a car park!” he stated.

“It needs to be free, this would be an acceptable way to go, a guarantee that, if you have paid for your space you can park in a car park close to where you live.

“Imagine the same system as the permit scheme operating in the harbour. You pay for a mooring but can only use it if no-one else is!” continued Cllr Dale.

Cllr Duncan Whitehurst told members that there are many other towns in England and Wales that do allow free car parking to resident permit holders in their public car parks.

“We would not be breaking ground with this, we need a sensible policy,” he said.

Regarding a zonal approach whereby permit holders could use a nearby permit area if theirs was full, this had been piloted in the past but some residents didn’t even know there were zones put in place.

The pilot was discontinued after a short time as it was felt not to be working but Cllr Skyrme-Blackhall felt a longer pilot scheme, say for two years, was needed to fully assess its success or failure.

“For example, in Trafalgar, Picton Road and Culver Park you are talking about just a handful of permanent residents,” she explained.

“The rest are second homes and holiday lets. Residents find difficulty in parking because of people coming down and using the ‘holiday permit’ to take up a space for a week. This is becoming a major issue.

“You can find all Culver Park full but Picton Road’s permit spaces have hardly any cars. Personally, I think it is very unfair when speaking to colleagues at County Hall.

“Tenby is seen as a cash cow as usual, and I do not feel we get much back in return,” she continued.

“Why should we as a town be paying all this money, making our residents pay to park where they live in front of their homes. It is a shambles. I feel there is little understanding of where we are as a town, how much it swells in the summer, and how few residents we have in the town,” added Cllr Skyrme-Blackhall.

Cllr Emma Lewis told her fellow members that she had lived on High Street for 15 years and there was no residents parking scheme available to people in this area, with most parking where they could or used the multi-storey car park when the charging period was until 5 pm - but after PCC changed the charging period to end at 7 pm, it was something that really affected residents who live in town but happen to work out of town a few days a week.

Cllr Laurence Blackhall suggested that all the comments made should be fed back to Mr Owen to put further pressure on trying to find a solution.

He then went on to give an example - House A has a full time resident and can apply for a permit; House B is a second home so pays double council tax and can apply for permit. House C is not permanently occupied and is not a second home but is a holiday let. It is registered for business rates so does not pay council tax. It then claims small business rate relief so does not pay anything at all or very little.

It was his view that Houses A and B should be allowed to apply for a permit but House C should not.

“The rules should be changed so that permits can only be issued to those that pay council tax, it is perfectly simple,” he said, which seemed fair to him, but he just did not know why this change could not be made.

“We should specifically say we want a ban on any permits being issued to properties that do not pay council tax,” he said.

Cllr Whitehurst pointed out that this is not actually unusual, as there are flexible parking residents permits in Dorset, East Hampshire and Derbyshire. In Derbyshire residents parking permits were actually free.

“There are town centre workers permits allowing free parking for staff in Worthing, Harrow and Loughborough while many more offer discount rates for people working in town, as well as for NHS and emergency staff. It’s not out of realms of possibility,” he stated.

Cllr Laura Crockford agreed that that, as one herself, residents who live in the town centre were ‘poorly served’ as they don’t have a permit area to apply for.

She explained that she had sustained a back injury some time ago and could not park anywhere near her home. When PCC was asked if there was any possibility of a permit, a flat no was received.

She said she felt there must be a way that permits can be available to residents within the town centre, perhaps via the suggested ‘zonal’ approach. There are a few residents’ bays around the town which are never full all year round.

“Second home owners are important to the town, but I would like to ask the question: do they need a full-time space in a town when they are only here for a number of weeks of the year,” added Cllr Crockford.

Cllr Dale reiterated that the way to go forward would be for all Air bnb/holiday let owners only be allowed to apply for Puffin permits.

“They need to be able to offer parking in some way in this day and age and a Puffin permit is a perfect way to do it,” he suggested.

“Visitors can come to their property to drop their bags and the car park is just 5 minutes away. This is much simpler,” added Cllr Dale, before members agreed that the points and suggestions made during discussions form the basis of further correspondence to streetcare manager Mr Owen.