A B&B owner in Keswick has estimated that the town could lose at least 170 car parking spaces from the ‘back streets’ in a looming shake-up.
Graham Burn, who runs the six-bed Harvington House with wife Gina on Church Street, made the claim having gone around the streets with the county council’s plans showing where new double yellow lines and restrictions will go.
Mr Burn estimated that the loss of spaces from the back streets coupled with the shortage of places at the Premier Inn could amount to a reduction in spaces of more than 200 in total — exacerbating the town’s traffic problems as drivers circulate looking for somewhere to park.
Mr Burn, in Keswick for 28 years, warned that the town’s car parks and free spaces are going to come under pressure from the new 71-bed Premier Inn which only has a 29-space car park but plans to employ 30 staff.
Cumbria County Council is consulting until March 6 on new parking rules for a wide area of Keswick which includes a community parking scheme requiring permits for residents, businesses, visitors and staying guests.
As for his business, Mr Burn will be entitled to a pair of permits for himself and his son, a single visitor permit, and then two permits for staying guests.
The 62-year-old told the Reminder: “Straight away, we are four permits short. You also only need a permit to park between 10am and 4pm. That is going to affect those people who park through the day because they need to go to work – and it’s not just those on minimum wage that need to do so.”
Mr Burn said the plans showed a lack of joined-up thinking between all those organisations with a stake in parking – the county council, Allerdale which leads on on-street car parks, and the Lake District National Park Authority.
Mr Burn said the organisations involved needed to work together better, including park planners, which had given the go-ahead for Premier Inn when there was insufficient parking for it.
He said that while the current parking in the back streets was not perfect, residents, businesses and visitors had largely found a way to make it work for the most part.
And while parking on junctions was indeed unsafe, he said, it had helped slow down traffic.
He also pointed out that once the 10am-4pm permit time limit expired, it would mean a free-for-all. Furthermore, many of the major car parks in Keswick do not allow 24-hour overnight parking, he said.
The one on Otley Road charged £11.50 which would mount up for any guest staying three to four nights, he said.
Accommodation providers could look at purchasing chargeable car park permits to provide for guests, he said, but his own estimation was that it could require a spend of around £2,000-a-year, equivalent to £20,000 over a decade — just for parking.
Cumbria County Council has argued that additional parking provision has been created with the town having 296 new permanent spaces.
Kate and James Beckingham, of Clarence House, Eskin Street, disagree and describe the plans as a “sticking plaster”.
They believe permits target ‘small tourism businesses’ and that other issues must be addressed such as the cost of parking, the expense of public transport and the frequency of bus services between Keswick and Penrith.
They also believe the basis for the proposals is out of date, having initially arisen pre-pandemic in 2019.
A spokesman for Cumbria County Council has told the Reminder that responses to the consultation have varied widely and that with limited space and lots of vehicles in Keswick, there could never be a solution that suited all.
Residents and businesses often viewed the proposals differently, the spokesperson said, while some shops had welcomed loading bays, and disabled drivers had supported more parking bays.
The spokesman stressed that all feedback would be reviewed to formulate the final proposals before going to Allerdale Local Committee for approval. Keswick’s only representative on the panel is Cllr Tony Lywood.
The spokesman said the county was trying to make the process as fair as possible and decisions are expected ahead of summer.
