Payments for parking on Ashdown Forest will begin on Monday 21st November 2022
It cones after the Forest was granted planning permission to install signs in the car parks and two parking machines at the Forest Centre in Wych Cross.
Ashdown Forest has, for some years, experienced increasing numbers of visitors and decreasing levels of funding. The result has been that it has been an increasing challenge to conserve the Forest and provide open and safe public access. Despite restructuring the organisation to save money, Ashdown Forest continues to generate a significant annual deficit. Donations, fund raising initiatives, grant funding and commercial activities are useful sources of funding but have not bridged the gap or allowed for improvements. Having considered how to fund the Forest, parking payments were identified as the best way to generate a proportion of the income needed to keep Ashdown Forest safe and open for the public.
Ashdown Forest Chief Executive James Adler said:
“Introducing parking charges was a difficult decision. We hope that people will understand that without this income we cannot protect this unique landscape now or for the future. We want our visitors to enjoy everything the Forest has to offer and, by making their parking payment, they will make a really valuable contribution to maintaining this beautiful place”.
The charges will apply to car parks across the Forest. Visitors will be able to pay by mobile phone, by card at the machines at the Forest Centre, via Apps, by cash at the Forest Centre during office hours or purchase a longer pass online. There will be annual and winter months passes available which offer a considerable discount to frequent visitors.
Horizon Parking will be managing the scheme and will have staff moving around the site as the new system is introduced. Details about applying for annual and winter passes, access for lower income groups and more detail on how to make a payment will be available ahead of the introduction of payments on the Forest website: www.ashdownforest.org
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