The National Park has rejected a call from the council to increase its parking charges to pay for toilets.

Pembrokeshire County Council had asked for £205,582 towards running toilets on Pembrokeshire Coast National Park car parks and suggested charges be increased to fund this.

At a meeting of the National Park authority on Wednesday (October 26) members decided that further negotiations between the chief executive and chairman of both organisations, and others such as Visit Pembrokeshire, was required.

National Park chief executive Tegryn Jones said he had been a “bit disappointed” with the response from the council to the authority’s initial discussions following the proposal of the scheme earlier this year.

Others, including chairman Cllr Di Clements, expressed concerns that by not paying there would be closure of some, “if not all,” toilet blocks.

A report to the meeting states that to meet the request, car parking charges would need to be increased by 41 per cent – up to £1.50 an hour to a maximum of £7.50 a day – and if increased the earliest date for implementation would be March 2023.

Raising charges this much and ring fencing for a “third party” was unprecedented said Dr Simon Hancock while Dr Rosie Plummer added she did not feel the request was “justified or sustainable.”

Members refused to “agree, in principle,” to the proposal to increase parking charges to pay for public conveniences managed by the council, but wanted to arrange a meeting to discuss future options.