Otley Chevin: Cost of visiting Yorkshire beauty spot is a 'tax on fresh air' say walkers

This access to green spaces and the great outdoors was seen as the greatest healer of all. Now that very premise is under threat, with a creeping cost dubbed a “tax on fresh air”.

An odd pound or two for parking, that soon adds up, to visit a park or the countryside in parts of Leeds. That isn’t explicitly ringfenced, but rather to plug a gaping black hole.

Beneath it all, incredulous, two questions remain. What is the greater intention when it comes to council priorities - warring one with another over health versus wealth?

And against a rising tide of opposition that ripples and swells, a bitter resentment grows. Why go through the motions of a formal consultation? Over 80 per cent said ‘no’.

To some, the move is a “barrier” to inclusivity, to others it’s “utter madness”. To the wider world, watching with interest, this marks a pivotal switch.

It challenges a core principle, on access and the outdoors. And when the people say no, but powers push on, what remains? And at what cost to unravel it all?

Steven McGrail, from Harrogate, is a keen walker. He used to go to the reservoirs at Fewston, before parking charges were introduced there.

Before that, he went to Ripley, but again new charges put him off. Now he walks ‘granddog’ Charlie, a Cavapoo, on Otley Chevin.

He is absolutely opposed, quite furious, at the move. This a creeping cost that comes from all corners, he said, hitting families in the pocket again and again.

“Access to the countryside should be made easy for people, not more difficult,” said Mr McGrail, shaking his head firmly. “It should be for people to use.

“If you’ve got a family of five, out for a day’s walking, why shouldn’t that be free? And they wonder why we’ve got an obesity crisis.”

1 in 5

One in five agreed that the car parks at Golden Acre needed work, in that they were in a poor or very poor condition.

95%

Just one in 20 said the same for Otley Chevin – with 95% of respondents saying the car parks were ‘excellent’, ‘very good’ or ‘adequate’.

45%

Nearly half of all those who responded said such a spend is what council tax is for.

2,432

At Roundhay Park, some 2,432 respondents also submitted a comment: 40% stressed that parking at public parks should be free; 23% feared it would push cars onto nearby streets.

Leeds City Council prides itself on its parks, with its green spaces strategy outlining ‘access for all’ as one of its core strands, ensuring they are “easy to visit”.

Lockdowns demonstrated their benefits, it goes on to add, with physical activity, mental health, wellbeing, and connecting with nature.

But there are five parks in Leeds where parking charges are to be introduced; at Golden Acre, Middleton and Roundhay parks, along with Temple Newsam and Otley Chevin.

It follows similar moves at reservoirs to the North, with Fewston, Swinsty and Thruscross, and others at Langsett in the South, as Yorkshire Water brought in new machines.

The charge is to park, not to visit, but to residents in places like Otley it is one and the same. There is, for many people, no other way to access ‘their land’.

There is no bus service. No public transport at all. The only way to get to the entrance without a car is to walk. According to Google Maps, it’s an hour’s steep climb.

From the cobbled market town it’s a 167m ascent, with a gradient topping 14 per cent at times. That’s the height equivalent of more than 33 double decker buses, piled high.

The Chevin today is a craggy outcropping of rock, overlooking the market town. Surprise View, named for its stunning outlook, is always popular with walkers and visitors.

On a hot day, the car park is nearly full. An ice cream van bakes in the heat, no need for its melody as a gentle crowd mills to take in the quiet countryside.

A woodland shelter, wild and green, gives some reprieve from the heat, while teenagers play on twists of rope using sticks for a makeshift swing.

There’s no rubbish here, dotting the floor. Volunteer rangers take care of that. No grass to mow, on the wilds of a wooded moor. And beyond the potholes of a car park, costs are low.

In the summer sun the Falleize family are watching the planes take off at nearby Leeds Bradford Airport. The rocks here look down over the runway, that’s how high it is.

They too cannot believe the parking charges are going ahead, with the council’s own public health teams promoting exercise, green spaces, and the value of the great outdoors.

“Then they do this,” they said. “It’s a barrier. That’s what it is.”

Basking in the sunshine, with a basket of strawberries and cherries spread out on the bench beside them, Joe Zalias and Farah Anway agree.

Such a tax on the outdoors comes straight from a ‘dystopian future’, joked Mr Zalias. But he admits that it would make him think twice before visiting again.

“Life is so hard for people at the moment,” he said. “The screws are just being tightened. Can we not just go into nature?”

All across the country forest park there is a feeling of anger and resentment. Almost all those who stopped to talk had heard of the proposals, and many had replied to the consultation.

One can remember when The Strid, a beauty spot at Bolton Abbey, used to be free. Another says the same for Tropical World, at Roundhay Park. A third said they too have stopped going to the reservoirs, so they can avoid the parking charges there.

It was 1944 that Major Horton-Fawkes of Farnley Hall, a distant descendent of the Gunpowder Plot dissenter Guy Fawkes, first gifted 110 hectares to the people of Otley.

In a letter to the council he suggested it may serve, as an open space beautified by trees and preserved in a natural state, as an alternative to a war memorial.

Janet and Phil Gomersall are both retired teachers. Today, enjoying the view, they are shocked to find a plain vanilla cone, from the ice cream van in the car park, now tops £5.

Does the council take a commission? Surely it earns a site fee. There must be other ways than parking charges, they wonder, to raise funds for the park’s care.

Unless it serves as a savvy cash cow. There are calls for sums raised in each park to be ringfenced for its care.

But Leeds City Council said without action, it faces a budget shortfall of nearly £35m this year. The charges would help reduce costs from maintaining and improving the car park.

The Gomersalls fear it will just mean people park on the road, pushing the problem onto narrow country lanes not designed to cope with the numbers or speeding.

Shantell Croft and Jordan Lorriman, 27 and from York, have been back twice in 24 hours. The first time they came to watch the planes take off, but they liked it and returned.

“I don’t think people will come as often, or at all,” said Ms Croft, who has five-year-old twins. “Families just won’t come if they have to pay.”

And Andy Gill, with Jo Toner, who is on a birthday walk as he turns 57. They come often, and know Leeds parks well. Roundhay is another favourite.

Parking, they said, should always be free. Otherwise, parks cease to be inclusive. Then, only those with a spare pound in their pocket get to go.

And when it comes to funding council coffers, well there is an argument against that too: “What are we getting, then for our council tax? It goes up every year.”

Helen and David Turnell are retired biochemists who moved to Otley seven years ago.

To Mrs Turnell, she acknowledges there is no money tree to plug the council’s coffers. She can accede that cash sums will have to come from somewhere, but her heart goes out to young families who are feeling the pressure.

“I hope it doesn’t stop people coming,” she said. “It’s all so expensive.”

And to Mr Turnell, it will only push more traffic further along. He remembers a policing “blitz” after lockdown, to tackle a crush of cars parked haphazardly along dangerous roads.

Neither can understand why a consultation was even held.

“It’s quite amazing - when they put it out to ask people’s opinions - that they are still going to go ahead with it,” said Mrs Turnell. “Why bother asking?”

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Environmental gr oups in Yorkshire have called for a “better solution” than blanket parking charges which can act as a “barrier” to access.

Otley 2030 is a community climate action group, aimed at building a greener future, which strongly opposes the new moves from Leeds City Council.

Last year a petition in the district drew more than 9,000 signatures in just three weeks.

Andrew Howarth, community development lead, said the group was “surprised and disappointed” at the news that plans were to press ahead.

“Unfortunately, access to Otley Chevin is very limited without a vehicle, with no public transport services available,” he said.

“This parking fee really does feel like a tax on access to nature and while we appreciate the very large hole in Leeds City Council’s budget, there must be a better solution.”

The Lib Dems in Leeds have been among the biggest opponents to proposals, branding the move a “tax on fresh air”.

Coun Stewart Golton, party leader and Rothwell councillor, said it targeted a “captive audience” in the elderly and young families.

“The excuse that these charges are to be used for car park maintenance are often disingenuous,” he added.

“In the case of Leeds City Council - there is no specific car park maintenance budget, nor evidence of money spent on them for many a year.”

And with Otley 2030, there are calls instead to rethink ways to fund any maintenance care.

It would be fairer, suggested Mr Howarth, to apply a ‘pay as you feel’ basis for the parking fees, with all funds raised ringfenced for upkeep and improvement around the Chevin itself - and with a percentage donated to the Friends of Chevin Forest group.

“It’s worth noting that a large part of the Chevin was returned as common land to the people of Otley by the Fawkes family in the 1940s,” he added.

“Considering this and the fact that parking charges have provoked huge local opposition, the community should have more influence over the Chevin’s management and its future.”