If you’re a regular visitor to Cosmeston Country Park & Lakes you’ll have noticed the parking bandits arriving. We’d be lying if we said we are fans. We call them bandits (one-armed) because, short of the lever, these machines pretty much mug visitors of their hard earned cash and if you’re a regular to Cosmeston, these fees will soon add up.
Here’s a statement from the Vale of Glamorgan website: “Car parking at a country parks will cost £1 for up to two hours, £2 for up to four hours and £4 all day, while it is also possible to purchase six and twelve month permits. The charges at Cosmeston will not take effect until a resident parking scheme has been implemented in nearby streets to tackle the issue of displacement parking.”
Now we appreciate that the Council has bills to pay, but in a world where obesity and diabetes is running riot because of inactivity, you would think the Welsh Government and the Council would want to encourage everyone to walk as much as possible – for fitness and their mental health. And not everyone is fortunate enough to live in walking distance.
Perhaps it hasn’t been thought through, perhaps it has. We can’t help thinking this particular decision is ill-considered and may backfire in the long run as the country’s social care and medical bills climb, which they continue to do in Wales, at an alarming rate.
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