Town council calls for review over failed bid to run cash cow castle car park

Dale Spridgeon, Local democracy reporter.

Jobs could be lost and museums shuttered unless a town council is allowed to keep income from a lucrative car park, it has been warned. 

Beaumaris Town Council has called for a review of a decision by Anglesey County Council to refuse the town council’s bid to continue running the Castle Car and Coach Park in the resort town. 

The county council threw out a bid by the town council to secure an asset transfer of the car park. 

From April 1, 2026, the county council said they would run the car park and said it would create an “additional source of income” to fund projects across the island. 

During a meeting with Beaumaris Town Council on Monday evening, Councillor Alwyn Rowlands warned that the lost revenue for the town council could see two historic museums close and six jobs lost. 

Cllr Rowlands said that without the money raised, the popular Beaumaris Gaol and Court attractions “would be no more”. 

He added that the county council would “have to be the ones to tell six people that their jobs will be gone”. 

“The county council needs to understand this; we need the Castle Car Park,” he said. He urged the Beaumaris councillors to try to retain the car park. 

Cllr Rowlands said the town councillors “were not comfortable with how the situation had been handled” and that the car park was needed to fund the facilities for residents and visitors. 

The town council was granted a lease from the county council to run the car park for a period of five years in 2020. 

The original lease was agreed to support the town council to fund the maintenance of the Gaol and Court, when it took them over from the county council. 

The car park was estimated to bring in over £100,000 a year, county council highways portfolio holder, County Cllr Ieuan Williams said. 

Figures presented in the town council’s business plan noted it had generated an income of £113,000 in 2024/25. 

The county council had concluded it was a resource that generated “significant income with relatively low maintenance costs” and could “create an additional source of income for the county council from April 1, 2026”. 

The county council said the “income could be used to upgrade and maintain other assets across the island”. 

Cllr Rowlands said he “frowned” to hear that the money would be taken away from Beaumaris, which he said was a much busier destination for tourists than other areas. 

The town mayor Stan Zalot had compiled the town council’s business plan, in which he said: Loss of the parking revenue may rest [sic] in the closure of the Gaol and Courthouse and thus have a detrimental effect on tourism and local employment.” 

But the county council had stated that town council figures in the plan had shown that only 10% of income raised was used on the historic buildings. 

The plan was also branded “weak” by county councillor Carwyn Jones, a former college business tutor who helped students prepare business plans. 

He said: “I would have expected to see income for every year from the car park and how it was spent every year on the gaol and court. The only figures are the figures for 24/25. 

“Just over 10% was spent on the gaol and court. We don’t know what that was spent on. We need a breakdown of income and expenditure every year, and a plan for the next five years.” 

There was “no correlation” between the business plan and the lease’s original purpose to maintain the gaol and court; he had told the executive at its February 24 meeting. 

The lease had also been extended to compensate the town council for lost revenue during the Covid pandemic and to give it time to prepare the business plan. 

The town council was only offered a new lease until March 31, 2026. 

At the meeting, town councillor David T Evans asked visiting County Council leader Cllr Gary Pritchard, who had been giving an update on local issues, why their bid was rejected. 

Cllr Pritchard explained: “The lease was [originally] given to the town council for five years to use the income raised from the car park, for the gaol and court when the town council took them over. 

“The lease ended in July 2025, but more time was given to give the town council a chance to present the business plan for the asset transfer. 

“The whole purpose of the lease was to cover the costs of the gaol and court and any work there. 

“Just over 10% of the money raised was invested into the gaol and court.” 

He added: “I did not see the car park [revenue] was being used for its intended purpose.”