Tynemouth Hotel Owners Slam ‘Astronomical’ 500% Parking Fee Rise
Hotel owners in Tynemouth have hit out at an “astronomical” price rise in parking permits for their guests. As part of controversial parking permit fee increases across North Tyneside, the cost of a hotel or B&B voucher is going up from £1 to £5 – but hoteliers fear they will be left to fork out huge fees.
For venues that buy the vouchers in bulk from the local authority to hand out for free to their guests, the cost will be rising by thousands of pounds extra every year.
Some hotels in the seaside destination have said they pay more than £4,000 at the old prices and now face annual bills of more than £20,000.
Stephen Minn, who owns the No.61 Guest House in Front Street, said he understood the need to increase prices, but questioned why the hike needed to be so significant.
He said: “I don’t think anybody is complaining about the fees going up, but to have them increase by 500% is like being hit in the face. We probably give out ten or 12 tickets a week, and we are open every week of the year. They are all going up from £1 to £5, so that will add up to a major increase over the course of a year.”
“We petitioned and went around all of the businesses here because parking has been a very sensitive subject for a number of years. This is the first time the fees have gone up by such a huge amount in one go. We sent a letter to the council and they wrote back to say that the plans had been consulted on, but the businesses around here say they weren’t consulted. It is a big hike. £5 might not seem like a massive fee, but it will add up when you put them together.”
Council bosses say the old hotel permit charges were “not proportionate to the cost of charged parking in the area”.
Some 47 people signed a petition from Front Street businesses protesting against the hotel fee rises, as well as permit cost increases for businesses and the removal of taxi bay permits.
Last week, calls from the borough’s Conservative opposition to overturn a raft of parking permit fee rises hitting residents were voted down by Labour members of an overview and scrutiny committee.
The cost of residents’ and visitors permits are also going up, but the Tories claimed the plans “didn’t stack up” financially and were not transparent enough.
