A potential solution to difficulties with coach parking in Bourton-on-the-Water involving a nearby industrial estate has been aired, although acceptance of the proposal locally has been questioned by a coach industry representative.
The current Bourton Vale coach park is set to close at the end of 2023. It currently works on a pre-booked basis with two-hour slots. Owner Bourton Vale Parking previously threatened to close the facility at the end of 2022.
In September, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) wrote to Cotswold District Council (CDC) urging it to work with the sector to find a solution. CPT has highlighted that if coaches visiting Bourton are unable to park, the economic damage to businesses in the village would be significant.
In a reply, CDC Chief Executive Robert Weaver says that the local authority shares the coach industry’s concerns. “For this reason, I have been chairing meetings of key stakeholders for a number of months, exploring alternative options,” he adds. Local operator Pulham’s Coaches is among those parties.
Mr Weaver adds that there now “may be an option to facilitate parking for a small number of coaches” on an industrial estate in Bourton. CPT Coaching Manager Phil Smith has cautiously welcomed the proposal, which is thought to involve a drop off and pick up zone in the centre of the village in combination with the parking area elsewhere.
However, Mr Smith adds that the plans as they stand will likely involve a need for coaches to reverse to turn around in a residential area in order to travel from the proposed drop-off stop to the industrial estate.
Papers published by CDC ahead of a meeting on 26 October have floated the use of some residual money from the village’s Tourism Levy to undertake street works and changes to traffic regulations to accommodate coaches following the expected removal of parking at Bourton Vale.
While the latest approach represents a move forward from the previous position of all coach parking in Bourton coming to an end beyond December, Mr Smith has highlighted the potential difficulties in terms of safety and objections from properties in the location where reversing could take place as being potentially tricky.
“I am wary about residents’ response, and that could prove to be a difficult hurdle to deal with,” says Mr Smith. “CPT remains in contact with CDC and we are hopeful of developing a long-term solution that is satisfactory for all involved. But first, we need to see where the current proposals lead.”
It had previously been put forward that CDC could provide space for coaches at the Rissington Road car park in Bourton, but in February the local authority said that delivering such provision would come at “significant cost” to taxpayers.
In his letter of 4 October, Mr Weaver says that use of Rissington Road for coaches had been “considered in detail,” but that it “does not appear viable at this stage.”
