National park member calls for blog to counter ‘misleading’ coverage

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A Welsh Government-appointed member of a national park authority wants a blog to be set up on its website to combat negative news.

The suggestion was made at a Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority (BBNPA) meeting on Friday, 20 May, by Professor John Hunt, as members discussed the authority’s finances and the progress of planning applications for four car parking meters for sites across the national park.

Earlier this week, applications for two of these car parking meters were approved by the BBNPA Planning committee.

These sites are the car park at the bottom of Llyn-y-Fan road, Llanddeusant, and the car park 250 metres to the north of Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo both in Carmarthenshire.

Plans for two more at the Fox Hunters and Keepers Pond car parks, both off the B4246 road near Blaenavon in Torfaen, are still waiting for a decision

While the meters are currently set for voluntary “donations” from visitors, the Planning committee were told by planning chiefs that the applications had “flexibility” built into the proposal.

This would allow compulsory car parking charges to be brought into force at these sites, at some point in the future if the authority so wishes it.

Planning committee chairman and  government appointed member Steve Rayner reported the planning decisions to authority.

Mr Rayner asked for “reassurance” that these are for voluntary donations and that there was “no current” plan to change that.

Chief executive Catherine Mealing-Jones explained that these parking meters are part of the authority’s income diversification strategy.

Ms Mealing-Jones said: “We’re learning from what other organisations do and voluntary donations is a very successful tactic.

“The vast majority of car parks int he national park area are not NPA car parks.

“The Pen-y-Fan car park is owned by the National Trust and many of the car parks in our wonderful towns are owned by the local authorities or town councils.

“This is a modest step to try and enable those who wish to donate to make a donation when they are enjoying the national park.”

Prof Hunt said: “I welcome the comments on the parking scheme. We know the media can misrepresent stories.

“If we had our own blog on the website that explained how a story got out there and the facts behind it, how we claim they are wrong and put the story right, I think it would be quite proactive.”

Cllr Simon Howarth (Monmouthshire) : “John has a point. We need to make sure we’re one step ahead of the press.”

Cllr Liam Cowles (Torfaen) added: “I was concerned about the news coverage on the voluntary car parking scheme.

“The headline – it’ll be pay to park at the keepers pond – I think that’s misleading when it’s actually a voluntary donation you can still park there and not make a donation if you so wish.

“We need to get ahead of the curve get the right accurate information out there as it’s caused a lot of residents in my area real concern who think it’s mandatory to pay to park there.”

Cllr William Powell (Powys) warned members that blaming the media “doesn’t play well.”

Cllr Powell said: “It’s important we regard the media as our colleagues, and we need to be savvy enough to engage our communications function a little bit more proactively.”

The authority then moved on to the next item of business.