Meeting documents

Good Afternoon Madam Chairwoman and Councillors.

My name is Leslie Redwood and I am here today to speak as member of The Pulteney Gardens Guesthouse Association and other associates. We are also members of the Bath Independent Guesthouses Association, and members of Bath Tourism Plus, which is based in the Tourist information centre. My wife and I own and operate Apple Tree Guest House in Pulteney Gardens Bath. We have recently bought and refurbished the property and so we are acutely aware of the huge impact massive changes in costs have on small businesses like ourselves. Any large increase in cost has a direct effect on our quality of life, and the viability of our business. Our profit margins are wafer thin in a guest house, as this business, especially the smaller operations, is often more of a lifestyle choice, rather than a way to make a fortune. As our association will be stating today we are aware and receptive to a proposal of a reasonable increase in parking charges, but feel that an increase in the hundreds of percentages is outrageous, completely unfair and will have a disproportionately large effect on the smallest guesthouses, like ourselves, that operate with 5 permits or less. We have undertaken some research into what other towns are paying for their parking permits and discovered that Bath is already one of the most expensive towns in the country for parking permits, without ANY rise. For example STRATFORD charges £25 per household and £25 for extra permits

CHELTENHAM does not charge at all

SALISBURY has a ticket based system and charges £30 for a book of permits. NORWICH charges £15 per permit and the residents are fighting a big campaign against a proposed increase to only £30 per permit . This has recently been featured by the Daily Mail And Finally, WINDSOR, who has the same kind of tourism and parking issues as Bath, only charges £15 for the 1st permit and £30 thereafter From all of these examples you can clearly see that Bath as a city is already hugely overpriced in terms of parking charges and any large increase is clearly unfair and will be detrimental to some of the city's smallest businesses. Increasing the cost of parking will not solve the parking problems we have or provide a better service as a result of the extra cost. It will only serve to damage our already poor reputation as overpriced. Indeed, International Tourist guide Lonely Planet, and accommodation provider Hotels.com recently rated Bath as one of the most expensive cities outside of London, representing poor value for money. This is not the image that we need, but as owners we will have no choice but to load these costs on to the visitor to remain viable. This will not make Bath in any way, "A Better place to live, work and visit" as is stated on the current permits. We would urge you to consider a more reasonable level of increase, and to make provision to protect the smallest businesses with 5 permits and under. Many thanks for your time.