Bourton-on-the-Water residents asked how to spend funding raised by the tourism levy in the Rissington Road car park
Cotswold District Council is inviting residents of Bourton-on-the-Water to give their views on how to spend the money raised through the Rissington Road car park tourism levy for a third year.
This follows over £70,000 being raised in the past two years since the charge was introduced with seven projects now underway to manage the impact of volume tourism on the village.
Cllr Mike Evemy, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, said; “The tourism levy we introduced in the Rissington Road car park has raised much-needed funds to spend on projects and activities in the village that help to manage the impact of visitors who come to enjoy what Bourton-on-the-Water has to offer.
“We are really pleased to have been able to support the village in recent years using this innovative approach and it has been a great success to date. So far, we have been able to fund some great initiatives including a refresh of the village green and the provision of a village warden. We’re also investing in new double drop kerbs to improve accessibility in the village and the introduction of a new Traffic Regulation Order to tackle visitors parking on residential roads.
“I would like to encourage all residents of Bourton-on-the-Water to take part in the consultation to help us decide how the funds to be collected this year by the tourism levy will be best spent.”
The Council is consulting on various proposals including measures to improve traffic, cycle parking, improvements to public spaces, repairs to footpaths and ways to make the village more accessible to disabled residents and visitors.
Since April 2021, for every stay at the Rissington Road car park, 50p of the parking fee has gone into the fund to be spent on local projects with the Council expecting it to raise over £65,000 this year.
Despite the closure of the car park for refurbishment between November and March 2022, over £40,000 was raised last year. Funds from the 2021/22 tourism levy were invested into a new village warden, larger waste bins, bollards to stop illegal parking and a study into how we can improve the village for disabled visitors and residents.
The consultation opens on Monday 17 July and will run for four weeks with residents asked to rank the proposals in priority order and make suggestions or comments on our proposals.
The survey can be found here: Bourton-on-the-Water Tourism Levy Consultation.
The consultation is available through the Council’s website and closes on Sunday 13 August 2023. Anyone not able to fill out the online survey can download a printable version of the survey and return it to us by emailing communications@cotswold.gov.uk or writing to the Council at Communications Team, Cotswold District Council, Trinity Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1PX.
For more information on the consultation, and to fill out the survey, go to www.cotswold.gov.uk/consultations