Westhay Moor - Paul Eaton
Parking at Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve
Car parking charges at Westhay Moor
Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve is in the centre of the Avalon Marshes area on the Somerset Levels. It is a mecca for wildlife and particularly in the spring when bittern can be heard booming, and where tens of thousands of overwintering birds make it their home. Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve welcomes visitors all year round to enjoy its walking trails, bird watching, geocaching and to understand the history of the site.
Family at Westhay, Somerset Levels. Photo: Paul Harris/2020VISION
Our nature reserves are free for you to visit, but they cost us £803,000 a year to manage at a time when costs are increasing year on year. The modest amount of income we believe the charges will generate here is really important to us and will help us carry out crucial conservation work that is needed on this very special reserve that is loved by so many. With these new charges, all visitors, including Somerset Wildlife Trust Members will need to pay for their parking.
Answers to your questions
How much does it cost?
It costs £3 per visit to park at the Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve car park.
Season tickets are available at the following charges. £65 for an annual pass and £40 for 6 months and are available to purchase from pweparkingpermits.co.uk.
How do I purchase a ticket?
Park with Ease have installed a solar-powered ticketing machine and all instructions are located on the machine itself and associated signage. Payment will be by credit or debit card. The machines will also be able to take payments by mobile phone. If a visitor has neither with them, it will be possible for the visitor to pay within 24 hours when they return home - please visit www.parkwithease.co.uk/m/make-a-payment.aspx
Season tickets for regular visitors are available to purchase from pweparkingpermits.co.uk
How will it be enforced?
The Park with Ease system uses an ANPR camera (automatic number plate recognition). It will record number plates as they enter and leave the car park and Park with Ease will therefore monitor this and the associated payments. Non-payments will be managed by Park with Ease, who will deal with all related issues and, where relevant, any correspondence with visitors. Somerset Wildlife Trust staff or volunteers on the site have nothing to do with the administration of the Park with Ease contract so will not be able to intervene or resolve any parking related issues on site.
Are members expected to pay for parking?
All visitors, including Somerset Wildlife Trust Members, including Blue Badge holders will need to pay for their parking in the car park.
The costs just to maintain our reserves and the associated infrastructure continue to increase year on year and improvements such as these have to be funded in a range of different ways. We know that our members understand this and thus, will understand why we have had to introduce an additional parking charge which is on top of their membership fee. Evidence from other Trusts that have introduced parking charges have indicated that the majority are supportive in the knowledge that it is helping restore nature in this very special place.
From a practical perspective, there is no way for our members to physically prove that they have an active membership with the Trust. We stopped issuing membership cards some years ago so that the administrative cost of issuing these cards could instead be put towards our conservation work. We also do not hold car registration numbers on our database. To establish a system to both identify our members to Park with Ease and to administer internally would be costly and time-consuming. Furthermore, there would also be an impact on our ability to claim Gift aid, as well as at least a proportion of membership income being payable to HMRC as VAT. Maintaining the detailed records that HMRC would need from us, would create an administrative burden that an organisation of our size cannot practically accommodate.
We are aware that other charities offer free parking for members, but these tend to be larger national charities that have much more administrative capacity and the ability to offset far greater sums of money.
Will you be applying this to any of your other sites?
We are not looking to apply car parking charges at our other reserves at this point in time.
Accessibility
Disabled access trail from main car park (parking charges apply) to two hides. Free Blue Badge parking by Viridor Hide, which has wheelchair ramp access.
The virtual tour may also be of assistance to plan your visit.