A new £10 parking charge has deterred day-trippers from visiting Salcombe, a seaside town recently dubbed as the UK’s priciest coastal location. In May 2024, Lloyds reported that the average property price in Salcombe, Devon, was £970,657, a 22% decrease compared to 2022 when it exceeded £1.2million.
However, Rightmove’s August list of the most expensive seaside locations ranked Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs in Dorset first and second, with average asking prices of £1.5million and £1.2million respectively. Salcombe is known for its high proportion of second homes, which reportedly constitute around 60% of the town’s properties. Local authorities have already imposed double council tax on these residences.
Now, visitors are being hit with a daily parking fee of £10. Meanwhile, South Hams District Council has arranged for locals to purchase an annual permit for £5, allowing them to use the town’s car parks for £8 per day.
Local business owners argue that this is driving away crucial trade. Beck Gordon, who runs a cafe and fishmonger, commented: “It’s quieter generally. The parking’s definitely an issue.
“In terms of day-trippers, if you talk about more local people, they definitely don’t come any more.”
She also pointed out that it is cheaper to pay for a weekly parking ticket – costing between £25 and £50 – than to use the car park, which would amount to £70. Ms Gordon labelled this as “absolutely ridiculous”.
Another cafe manager in the town revealed that she spent £120 of her wages on parking.
Councillor Julian Brazil, executive leader of the local authority’s community services, said: “We’d like to do everything to help the tourism trade and we have kept our car parking charges as competitive as possible. Residents of the South Hams can benefit from our discounted resident parking scheme.
“Many workers in Salcombe have benefited from our competitive parking permits, which offer significantly lower long-term parking compared to our pay-on-the-day rates.
“Be under no illusion, we don’t want to increase prices, but this is the best choice for us under the circumstances we find ourselves in.
“Our prices have been frozen for four years, and now everyone who benefits from our public services are being asked to contribute, and that includes our visitors.”
Housing specialists at Zoopla have spotlighted Devon’s South Hams district, encompassing the historic naval port of Dartmouth and taking in Kingsbridge and Ivybridge, alongside Salcombe and Totnes, as highly “desirable”.
They note: “Dartmouth and its surrounding town and villages offer a range of properties from terraces, cottages and merchants’ houses, to new-builds and luxury sea-view flats, town houses and boathouses.”