By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Plans for a coach and car park in England’s ‘prettiest village’ have been withdrawn “due to public opposition and lack of details”.
Max Thomas, who owns the trout farm in Bibury, had applied to Cotswold District Council for planning permission for a new car park, for coaches and cars, on the edge of the village.
He said last month that the facility could help to solve the problems caused by peak time congestion, if it got the go-ahead.
The picturesque Cotswolds village, with its iconic Arlington Row, has been plagued by issues due to over-tourism, with thousands of visitors from across the world visiting daily.
Coaches bringing the hordes of visitors could soon be banned from its centre as part of a series of measures aimed at reducing congestion, following complaints from villagers.
But Mr Thomas had come up with his own separate plan that he had hoped would help his business and the village generally.
But his proposal to create the car park in a field off the B4425, at Arlington Pike, to the west of central Bibury has now been withdrawn.
He said previously that the pay-as-you-use car park would cost £150,000 to create, hold between 80 and 100 vehicles and be a ten minute walk, or short drive in a shuttle vehicle, from the village centre.
The new facility would have added to the trout farm’s existing car park, which has 150 spaces.
And the plan was to rent the space from a farmer who owns the land. However, that offer is also understood to have been withdrawn.
Bibury Parish Council chairman Craig Chapman said the plans were withdrawn after the landowner withdrew their offer after realising the depth of feeling against it in the village.
Planners also did not have enough information on the aspect of the car park and if it had not been withdrawn would have been rejected, he said.
“That car park was not supported by the majority of people in the village at all,” he said.
“The main reason being, we already have enough people coming into the village and parking in the car park the Trout Farm has at the bottom.
“The thought of having an out of village car park with 130 cars and ten coaches – at least 500 people shuttling down to the village or walking the narrow pavement was not plausible.
He said Bibury is already full of tourists and a new car park on that site would “just compound the problems.”
“When I first moved here, I would have said an out of town car park was a great solution.
“Having lived here now for five years that is very misguided. It just creates an additional facility for people to come.
“We want to manage overtourism. Manage what we’ve got before opening additional car parks to encourage more traffic.”