Anger over plan for firms to run council car parks

Residents are concerned that private operators will impose year-round charges

Newquay residents who are against proposals to hand five of the town's public car parks to a private contractor have held a protest at Watergate Bay.

It follows a public consultation on plans to remove a total of 28 car parks across the county from Cornwall Council management.

Once transferred, the car parks would charge fees year-round.

Resident Jessie Joe Jacobs said: "People don't like these operators, they trust the council more than they trust these operators."

Fellow resident, Liz Wright said: "Local residents really utilise these car parks in the winter months when there are no parking charges to have access to our natural environment, which is really important for people's mental health and wellbeing."

Noah Law, MP for St Austell and Newquay, also attended the protest.

He said: "It needs to be that they [Cornwall Council] aren't losing money on these car parks, they need to do enforcement in an economically sustainable way but not at the expense and the high expenses that we see with some of these private operators of local people."

The public consultation on the proposals ended on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the council said it would "carefully consider responses" when making any decision on the future of the car parks.