A meeting of East Lothian Council has today (28 October 2008) agreed not to introduce car parking charges at any of its 13 coastal sites following the results of a public consultation into the issue.

The coastal car parking charges consultation was launched in mid-June 2008 and ran for an extended period, which closed at the end of September 2008. In total, 526 responses were received with nearly 80% (418) coming from East Lothian residents. The majority of respondents (265) felt that they did not agree with the proposed improvements to the car park areas, which included resurfacing, upgraded toilet or shower facilities.

Cabinet member for Community Services, Councillor Stuart Currie, said: “From the responses to the consultation, it emerged that there was a desire for improvements at a number of sites, particularly where water sports are practised. These findings will be used together with research that will be conducted as part of the Council's forthcoming Coastal Tourism Strategy to develop first-class facilities that meet visitors' and residents' expectations.

“One cause for concern was that coastal car parking charges could unfairly penalise residents who visit the beaches each day to walk dogs or enjoy the environment. Although many respondents felt that residents' passes would be an appropriate solution, under European law there can be no differential between residents and non-residents to access facilities. Therefore any charges would have to be levied equally to all visitors.

“When we launched this consultation we said that we would listen to what residents and visitors told us they wanted from our coastal facilities. The responses have given us a lot of useful information about how people use our beaches and what they want to see, but it's clear that charging is not the way forward. We take their views seriously and our decision not to proceed recognises this.”