The cash-strapped national park authority plans to collect parking fees and donations to help fund the upkeep of popular sites
Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Cash-strapped Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority (NPA) is proposing to install car parking machines at popular locations throughout the national park in an effort to generate additional revenue from tourism.
Last month the NPA’s head of commercial operations Wayne Lewis submitted four planning applications to Bannau Brycheiniog planners for the installation of car park machines and related signage at the perimeter of four car parks within the national park area.
The locations are the car park at the base of Llyn-y-Fan road, Llanddeusant, the car park at Carreg Cennen Castle, Trapp, Llandeilo, and the Fox Hunters and Keeper’s Pond car parks both situated off the B4246 road near Blaenavon.
Documentation accompanying the applications indicates that these machines will “collect donations and car parking fees”.
A spokeswoman for BBNPA said: “The authority has submitted planning applications to install donation‐based parking machines in several car parks it owns, with any funds raised reinvested directly into caring for these sites and maintaining them for the future.”
Nevertheless, there are worries that visitors may congest nearby roads in an attempt to avoid parking charges.
Regarding the Keeper’s Pond car park proposal, NPA planning officer Luke Woosnam said: “We’ve had some concerns relating to these ticket machines from third parties. The concerns are that people will just park their vehicles on highway verges instead of paying.”
He requested Monmouthshire council’s highways authority (HA) provide feedback on the issue. Monmouth HA’s Benjamin Lewis responded: “People can already do that at present, so it’s not really a fundamental change for us.”
Consultation on all four proposals is scheduled to conclude on Friday, May 8.
In March, during an NPA meeting, members approved the budget for 2026/2027, which will see it draw just under £700,000 from its reserves this year.
This year Bannau Brycheiniog needs £5.227 million to operate its services but will only receive £4.528 million through the Welsh Government grant and local authority levy.
Finance officials have cautioned that if the NPA continues to depend on reserves, it could deplete them and face insolvency by 2029.
