A group of Keswick B&B owners have been denied a crunch meeting with county council highways bosses —as opposition continues to grow against the controversial parking proposals for the back streets.
The five-strong group, among them Paul Brannen, of The Rowan Tree on Eskin Street, had asked highways chiefs for a meeting before the clock ran out on Sunday on an official 41-day public consultation.
But they were told by email that a meeting “would not be suitable at this stage” by county council officials based out of Workington, who said all consultation responses would be considered and that people would get another chance to have their say in another round of consultation before any changes come in.
The county council has been running a consultation since January 24, which has included open public meetings at the library.
The latest to publicly oppose the proposals include Mr Brannen, who has run The Rowan Tree for seven years; Kate and James Beckingham, from Clarence House, Eskin Street; Graham Burn of Harvington House, and Steve Aston, from Dalkeith Guest House, both Leonard Street;and Ben and Fiona Goodman from the Glencoe Guest House, Helvellyn Street.
As well as businesses, they emphasise they too are residents, and believe that the proposed permit-parking scheme between 10am-4pm, and a massive roll-out of double yellow lines reducing places to park, will affect those who live and work out of the back streets, including non-tourism businesses.
The group asked the county council to include a do nothing option and said any future scheme should be subject to more extensive consultation and evidence.
Mr Brannen tabled an agreed set of alternative proposals which include a year-round 24/7 permit scheme — rather than the proposed 10am-4pm plan.
The alternative plan would include more permits for residents, a permit for every bedroom in a B&B or guest house — rather than the allocation of just two guest permits per business — and arrangements for holiday lets to encourage large visiting groups to car share when visiting.
They warned of a ripple effect of motorists being driven out of the back streets and parking around the peripheries as well as mounting congestion in and around Keswick as those parking outside the allotted permit scheme of 10am-4pm rush to move their vehicles — creating new safety problems that the changes were designed to address.
They also raised concerns that the visitor “experience” of staying in Keswick, which benefits from thousands of repeat visitors returning year after year, could be “ruined” if guests are forced to move cars onto busy car parks and add to the town’s traffic queues.
Nor do they believe that enough consideration has been given to the pressure the town’s car parks face during major annual events which can see spaces overwhelmed.
Anecdotally, one business has reported that a survey of long-standing visitors found that 80 per cent would not come back due to the extra costs involved with parking would add to a stay.
Steve Aston, from Dalkeith Guest House, said: “The proposed scheme will damage the visitor experience and our business.”
Graham Burn, of Harvington House, believes there had been a flagrant disregard by all the organisations for those who run a business in the back streets and a lack of joined-up thinking by those in charge.
“That’s not just our streets, but the whole of town and the whole of the national park – the whole parking situation is a shambles and nobody is taking control,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody appreciates the impact this is going to have.”
Kate said: “I think this will actually make the residents of Keswick more annoyed by the tourism trade, especially those who don’t work in it and are obviously original residents who live here. The issue I do have is that the transportation strategy is not a strategy, it doesn’t make sense.
“My issue is that fundamentally it is flawed and causes issues somewhere else and it shouldn’t have a knock-on effect, it should resolve the issue and not create a ripple effect. The business model for a B&B is at tipping point and is unsustainable.
James said: “It’s going to have an impact and a loss of income on our business as a result of guests choosing not to stay with us because the day-time parking will force them to go somewhere else. People have said already they won’t come and will find somewhere that has parking.”
Graham Burn said: “It’s important to remember that people have a choice over where they go to spend their money and we’ve told guests and they say I wouldn’t stay here because I’d go somewhere else. Some people say that people will always come to Keswick but that’s having a flagrant disregard for those who come here and spend money.”
Ben Goodman, of Glencoe Guest House, said: “The visitor experience will be hampered by this. If they tried to park at the rugby club from here, they would face a problem trying to find where they are staying if they haven’t been before. If they are elderly it is going to make it more difficult to walk and they will either find somewhere else locally in Keswick to stay with parking, and if not, they are not going to come back because they will feel they can’t park anywhere.”
Jonathan and Emma Sanderson, of Greystoke House, Leonard Street, said it had sounded out 28 groups of guests about what the proposals would mean, and 23 told them they would find somewhere else to stay if they had to move their car to a car park during the day.
The Sandersons said nine of the groups had stopped visiting Ambleside for the same reason.
“We as a business can not afford for 82 per cent of our guests to stay somewhere else – this would not only put our livelihood but also our home at risk.”
