Lickey Hills Country Park consultation

Overview

Welcome to the informal public consultation for the proposed introduction of charges at Lickey Hills Country Park.

In order to provide an income stream to both protect services and facilities within parks, as well as improving parks where we can, BCC is proposing the introduction of parking charges at selected parks.

The proposed scheme at Lickey Hills Country Park will result in a number of key benefits, namely: 

• Visitors to the park will benefit from reinvestment of revenue from car park charging into the park for its ongoing upkeep and future works
• The three car parks serving the park will benefit from significant investment to address safety concerns and ensure they are fit for purpose
• Longstanding traffic management issues can be effectively managed and resolved. e.g. Warren Lane carriageway
• Improve accessibility by addition of formal disabled bays in the car parks
• The presence of enforcement officers can act as a visual deterrent which may deter any anti-social behaviour.
• Ability for the Parks Service to meet savings targets for 2019/20 and onwards. 

BCC is one of the last local authorities in the country to introduce charging within parks on a daily basis and income generated will be reinvested into the respective park to improve infrastructure and maintaining the park to the standards visitors expect. Crucially, access to all parks remains free – the charges are not to use the parks but only to park a vehicle.

Lickey Hills Country Park is a very popular leisure destination, with more than 500,000 visitors per year. The park attracts visitors from the whole of Birmingham and also further afield, with approx. 26% of visitors coming from Worcestershire and beyond. This level of use puts significant strain on the park infrastructure and especially the car parks. 

The Country Park is served by 3 car parks which have a capacity of approximately 445 cars. Car parks are located at the Warren Lane site next to the Visitor Centre, Beacon Hill off Monument Lane and off Rose Hill serving the Rose & Crown Hotel and the Golf Course.  Currently parking at each car park is free and each is heavily used. Although the car parks are popular they are in need of significant investment in order to keep them in a safe and fit for purpose condition. Both Beacon Hill and Rose Hill car parks have been identified as having safety concerns and require major investment to address these concerns.

Implementation of parking charges will help generate essential income which can be invested in the infrastructure of the country park to improve the overall visitor experience and safeguard it for the future. 

The consultation pack below contains details of all the elements of the proposed scheme, including:

• Project scope (including car park and carriageway designs)
• Proposed pricing structure and payment methods
• Enforcement
• Investment wish list for the site
• Next steps