Council bosses call for rethink on charges at popular estate

About 100 people attended a meeting in Cirencester organised by the Right to Roam campaign group on Wednesday

Councillors have said they will write to an estate urging them to reconsider plans to charge people to walk in its grounds.

Locals and visitors are divided the decision to introduce a fee for Cirencester Park.

The park is part of the Bathurst Estate and after a meeting organised by Right to Roam on Wednesday, Cotswold District Council's cabinet said it would write to the Bathurst family calling for a rethink.

The Right to Roam campaign described the meeting, which was attended by about 100 people, as "powerful and moving" and called the charges "unacceptable".

No representatives from Bathurst Estate attended the meeting but Lord Bathurst has said the money from the charges would be invested in the park for future generations.

The park has been a free space for the public to use for the last 326 years.

But from Friday residents living near the park will have to pay a £10 deposit for an annual entry pass.

Visitors will be charged a £30 annual fee or they can purchase day passes at £4 for adults and £2 for children.

The park has been owned by the Bathurst Estate for centuries

Paul Hodgkinson, the cabinet member for health, leisure and culture at Cotswold District Council, spoke out against the charges at the meeting in Cirencester.

"This is not right, I am appalled by it quite honestly," he said, adding that he thought the estate had "got it completely wrong".

Lord Bathurst has said the way the park is currently run comes "at a cost rather than any form of revenue".

However Jonathan Moses, co-director of the Right to Roam campaign group, said the estate was "pleading poverty", adding: "I don't think that will wash."

Lord Bathurst said the park doesn't receive any direct grants to keep it open to the public

Lord Bathurst said the estate did not receive any grants to keep the park open to the public and the £10 desposit was not "over the top" for visitors.

"Many other parks, arboretums museums you're paying a lot more to come in and do that," he said.

Community passes will be available to all Gloucestershire residents with GL7 postcodes, alongside the villages of Edgworth, Frampton Mansell, Ashton Keynes and Latton.

Lord Bathurst said that if residents move away from the area, their deposit would be returned.