Cafe owner calls for parking charge changes

The owner of a cafe at a beauty spot in Stoke-on-Trent has called on the council to reconsider parking charges over the winter months.

Until 2021, parking was free at Westport Lake, with it proving a particularly popular destination during the pandemic.

However, Joanne Upton said since she took on the cafe with friends in March this year she had found the charges had proved very unpopular with customers - some saying they were enough to put them off visiting.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said fees had remained unchanged since 2021 and all revenue from the charges went into supporting the park's management.

Ms Upton said the first eight months had "been amazing".

"It's been a massive learning curve. The three of us had never done this before, but we kept on some of the previous staff and that's really helped," she said.

Ms Upton said the previous cafe owners had warned them that the site was much quieter in the winter and as expected after a very busy summer the number of visitors had dropped significantly.

She said almost every social media post from the business was met with questions and comments about parking charges, so she asked people directly what was stopping them visiting.

"The general census is that people do not want to come down because of the parking charges," she said.

"If they weren't there, they would be more than happy to spend money in the cafe."

The charges for parking at the site are £1 for an hour, £1.50 for 3 hours and £3 for 24 hours - Monday to Sunday.

Across the city, the local authority earned just over £1.1m in the 2023-24 financial year from pay-and-display charges.

While acknowledging the Westport Lake parking prices were not expensive, she said they were enough to put people off and the time restrictions also put them under pressure when they wanted to enjoy a home-cooked meal or a coffee.

Some other beauty spots such as Apedale Country Park have free parking, and Ms Upton suggested a compromise such as reduced fees in the winter or free parking on specific days.

As an example she pointed to Butterfield Place car park in Tunstall that was free for the first 30 minutes.

Unlike the previous owners the three new owners have also taken on extra financial commitments.

"The previous owners never paid rent," Ms Upton said

"Also we have a full commercial lease so we have extra costs associated with the building.

"If we run at a loss at Christmas, it affects what we can spend on the building."

Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for regeneration, infrastructure and transport at Stoke-on-Trent City Council said: "All revenue from the charges goes back into supporting the park's management, including CCTV, litter picking and community safety initiatives."

In 2021, when considering bringing in fees, then deputy leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council Dan Jellyman suggested they would be the "lesser of two evils", with the alternative being to increase charges in town centres.

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