A solution for smooth coach access to Bourton-on-the-Water hinges on finding a suitable off-street set down and pick up place, but that remains distant after highways authority Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) warned that such a location is yet to be identified.
In an email to Bourton-on-the-Water Parish Council on 30 July, GCC said that it has long held “significant concerns around any on-street solution” for set down and pick up.
A minor positive is GCC’s position that it “would not unilaterally implement a further ban of coaches and that there would need to be consistent support across all partners for this to be considered further.”
The Parish Council has advanced a wish for a total prohibition of tourist coaches in Bourton via traffic regulation orders (TROs) at entry points to the village. That would be beyond an existing TRO banning some PSVs from certain roads in central Bourton.
Such a call drew scorn from the coach industry. While not entirely discounting the possibility of village-wide TROs, the county council says that “there remain no plans for Highways to take this forward independently.”
Draft minutes of a Parish Council meeting on 7 August note that GCC instead wants an off-street solution to coach set down and pick up but warns that “there were no suggested locations at present.”
It has been proposed via results of a survey that set down and pick up could occur on an industrial estate. The draft minutes note how under that arrangement, “a vintage coach” or other means could transport visitors to and from the village centre. It is not noted how use of a vintage coach would not be subject to the same concerns there as modern vehicles.
Among other potential solutions being discussed according to the draft minutes is parking of coaches on the Cotswold School’s playing fields.
Parking is already available at Pulhams Coaches’ premises. A spokesperson for the operator says that while it has seen “positive uptake” of that provision, the overall picture is the opposite.
“Combined with other coach parking options in the village, collectively the number of coaches travelling to the area has fallen, which was inevitable once the decision to close parking and discourage coaches was made.
“The knock-on effect of this to local businesses – which we are in constant communication with – is already being felt, and we encourage local parties and committees to work with the relevant authorities to provide long-term solutions to this issue where possible and ensure that the village continues to thrive.”
Despite that call, the Parish Council Clerk is to write to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire and the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Police to highlight concerns about coaches in Bourton.
While regulations allowing stopping on double-yellow lines to set down or pick up are acknowledged, the Parish Council minutes claim that coaches have parked “inappropriately, on pavements, causing obstructions and difficulties for wheelchair users and pedestrians, and potentially restricting access for emergency vehicles.”
The Bourton Business Network (BBN) – which has long advocated better facilities for coaches in the village – has criticised local authorities involved in the ongoing episode, which came to a head when coach parking at Bourton Vale closed at the end of 2023.
BBN claims that there has been a “total absence of any elected authority being prepared to help coach operators who have been contractually bound to keep Bourton on their itineraries.”
The Network says it will advise operators to use “as safe a disembarkation point as possible and will continue to do so until a solution can be worked out. We will make no apologies for this.”
The Parish Council is “not happy” with BBN’s assertion that authorities are unwilling to help coach operators. It points to GCC’s observation that no safe roadside solution has yet been identified and has distanced itself from the Business Network’s view.
It adds that it is “disappointed” that BBN is directing coach operators and drivers to engage in what the local authority claims are “potentially unsafe practices which may contribute to making the traffic and, in our opinion, the situation worse and more dangerous.”
