Outrage has been sparked by the introduction of parking charges at Langwathby railway station.
Rail users now have to pay £1 per hour or £12 per day to use the car park, which was previously free of charge. Payment must be made via telephone within 10 minutes of arriving on the premises or car owners will be liable to a parking charge of up to £100.
Westmorland and Furness councillor Mary Robinson said it was “really disappointing and frustrating” for the local community. “People aren’t happy because it has always been a car park for the railway line,” said Mrs Robinson.
However, following criticism on social media, on Thursday the landowner, Graham Kemp, told the Herald he had received a response from the parking management company and confirmed that they were looking at his suggestion of dropping the charges to 60p per hour and £6 for 24 hours. “That was the figure proposed by locals as reasonable, which seems fair to me,” said Mr Kemp.
In a statement, Mr Kemp said: “I purchased the land recently as a commercial investment to include the station building, small warehouse and car parking areas.
“My prime interest is bringing old commercial buildings to life as short term lets and the warehouse and car parking were not particularly of interest to me, but the station building presented an opportunity to develop into unique short lets in an attractive area.
“This will of course bring economic benefit to the area and I will also be looking to engage local maintenance, housekeeping and cleaning teams very shortly. We already buy our bedding from Out of Eden for our other holiday and contractor lets back in Yorkshire.
“Since purchase I have spent a great deal of time on the site working with a very professional local build team and have observed how various people use the land and site road which comes with a right of way to the large poultry processing operation next door.
“At times the car park area was full and in fact overflowing onto areas around the station so much so that I had to erect barriers to ensure the builders could park their vehicles.
“I could foresee a maintenance issue and in fact there are already a number of potholes in the car park that I have asked the local builder to quote to repair.
“It was suggested that I introduced pay to park to control parking and provide revenue for any repairs. Having researched the issue I then contracted with a national car parking management company to install the equipment and erect signage.
“I confess I was caught out by how fast they geared up as they had had a job cancelled and arrived on site within days so much so that I had to drop what I was on with and arrange power supplies for their engineers to use for ANPR cameras. Regarding consultation I am in regular contact with the chair of the Settle to Carlisle Railway Trust whose opinion I carry in high regard, who assisted me with a planning application and in conversation he supplied me with a list of areas that he suggested I advertise the impending parking change but unfortunately events overtook me as above. On reflection I should have stalled the change until I had received feedback but we can’t go back in time. Some of the comments are valid and fair which I will address. Some people are obviously upset that they now have to pay when previously it was free which is just life or business in this case.
“I have made it very clear in the local social media group that I am happy to heavily discount annual passes and some people have already taken me up on this. I have also totally exempted a small number of people for appropriate reasons, some temporarily and some permanently. There are, however, some issues with the system that do need to be addressed.
“1. The cell signal is poor and erratic and some people don’t have a smart phone, which I have raised with the management company and asked if they can also install a card machine. I cannot condone people receiving penalty charge notices if they genuinely tried and cannot pay the parking charge. If anyone finds themselves in that position please contact myself the same day as you have tried to pay and I will do my best to sort the issue out. 2. Some people don’t have a smartphone – as above. 3. The prices are too high – the management company set the prices based on their area data and their experience and I did not have a lot to do with this. However, if they have pitched it too high it won’t get used and the charges will have to drop or they will not recoup their investment in equipment. It has been pointed out that locals have tried to encourage people to use the railway to prevent the station being closed which was news to me until very recently and if so then I will certainly push for a reduction in charges.
“I have sent all these issues to the management company in writing and await a response. Other than that it is private land and people have a choice to park there or not. Historically people have parked there for free which is a credit to the previous owner, however some of the land used for parking is deteriorating and needs repair.
“Unfortunately the village of Langwathby is very short of parking and is sometimes overrun with abandoned vehicles but does have a very large green area – perhaps if 20 per cent of this were converted to free public parking the whole area would look smarter, be safer and people would not have to pay to park at the expensive station car park? I am sure that comment will bring mixed reviews, but there is an issue and that is one obvious answer. Finally please accept my apologies if I have caused unnecessary grief through the speed of implementation and poor consultation. I am from Yorkshire – we just get stuff done.”
