Swansea council to scrap cheaper winter beach parking

Langland Bay

Visitors to some of Swansea's beaches will have to pay more for parking over the winter months.

Swansea council has given notice that it plans to scrap the winter charge tariff from 1 October 2016 in order to make the summer charges apply all year round.

It means winter charges at some beach and foreshore car parks will treble.

The council said car parks "have to pay their own way" as it looks to make around £80m of savings in coming years.

Car parks at Clyne, Southend, Bracelet Bay, Caswell Bay, Caswell Hill, Langland Bay, Sketty Lane, The Baths and Knab Rock all had a winter charge of 50p for an hour, but that will increase to the summer charge of £1.50.

Car parks at Port Eynon and Horton were free in the winter, but they will now cost £1.50 for an hour.

Blue badge concessions also face price hikes, while coach parking fees remain unchanged.

'Pay their own way'

A Swansea council spokeswoman said the authority "does all it can to keep the cost of parking down" and that there had been no increases in summer charges in the last few years.

She said: "However, the council has to make savings of around £80m over the coming years and prioritise services like education and social care.

"This inevitably means our car parks have to pay their own way and be sustainable."

The spokeswoman added: "The benefit of introducing year-round charging is that we have been able to keep summer charges at their current rates."