Unauthorised car parking operations near Bristol Airport continue to be investigated and successfully dealt with by North Somerset Council’s enforcement team.
Concerns have been raised that nearby fields were being used to park thousands of cars, blighting the countryside, causing issues with local communities and affecting holidaymakers who were unaware their cars would be parked in fields.
Some were also left on local roads with no security. Owners also reported damage to vehicles which had appeared to have been excessively driven, with unexplained mileage found on the clock.
Bristol Airport fund a Planning and Parking Enforcement officer to help tackle parking issues around the Airport. Last June, Bristol Airport contributed £50,000 to help employ an officer for 12 months and confirmed a further £50,000 will follow this summer to continue this role.
The Planning and Parking Enforcement Officer works in the Planning Enforcement team at North Somerset Council, and patrols regularly and records findings, with more than 600 site visits being made last year.
Planning Enforcement Officers have so far:
- Investigated 49 cases related to unauthorised airport parking.
- Issued 17 Planning Contravention Notices/Section 330 Notices, which request legal information regarding land ownership to which it is an offence not to reply
- Issued 13 enforcement notices
- Achieved compliance on 19 cases
- Completed successful investigations on 17 cases
Success examples include:
- Land near to Hyatts Wood Road, which was successfully cleared of parked cars after Council intervention. This agricultural field has the potential to hold 1,500 cars.
- Enforcement notices were issued on fields (which means that in the future the site has a permitted development right, but can only be used for a maximum of 28 days per year, after which it becomes a criminal offence) at:
- A field near Newditch Farm, which has the potential to park 560 cars.
- Land south of Bridgwater Road, which could hold more than 1,900 cars.
- Land west of Bridle Cottage, which has the potential for 900 cars.
- Land to the west of Newditch Lane, which could park around 790 cars.
- Land off Long Lane, which could hold around 560 cars.
- Land south of the A38 near Potters Hill, which has the potential for 450 cars.
- And at Land and buildings at Dial Lane which could park around 125 cars both on the agricultural land and inside the buildings, which has also been successfully cleared.
A residential property at Downside Road was also causing significant concern in the community due to excessive car parking. The operator pleaded guilty at North Somerset Magistrates Court and was fined and ordered to pay costs. This site has now been cleared.
Successful investigations were also carried out on a number of additional sites. This included a successful resolution where parking has now ceased and an area of land has been returned to its former condition, along with an agreement to replace three protected trees which were removed prior to 2014 to facilitate the parking operation.
Earlier this year, North Somerset Council’s Trading Standards team urged travellers flying from Bristol Airport to be vigilant when booking airport car parking services online, due to unethical airport car parking companies.
It followed numerous complaints received about car parking companies operating in the area, leaving travellers stranded and vehicles at risk.
In some cases, travellers returned, and the parking companies were unable to locate their car, either temporarily or permanently.
Matt Lenny, the Council’s Director of Healthy and Sustainable Communities, said:
“It’s all about making sure you’re confident that the provider is good before you start and it’s all about what you do before you book. Read the terms and conditions, make sure you’ve looked at some of the reviews. We would ask people to look for the Park Mark, the symbol of the British Parking Association.”
The Council and Bristol Airport are meeting with parish councillors to discuss areas of concern and will be holding a parking meeting later this month for representatives from all local parishes to tackle major hotspots.
