A BUNCH of persistent protesters in Cornwall appear to have won a long-fought battle to stop a Cornish landowner installing an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) car park at an isolated beach.

However, if the private estate does not make £1,000 by the end of the year from what is now a “normal” car park with no enforcement, it will go ahead and install ANPR cameras and signs.

Campaigners marched on Caerhays Castle, near Gorran Haven, in March in an ongoing bid to stop the Caerhays Estate installing an ANPR car park with payment machine at what has previously been a free car park at West Portholland beach.

The longstanding battle looked to be resolved to the satisfaction of residents in June 2024 when a planning application was refused by a Cornwall Council committee. However, that refusal was overturned. The bid by Birmingham-based private parking enforcement firm Initial Parking Ltd, on behalf of Caerhays, which owns the beach on the Roseland Peninsula, was approved on appeal by a Bristol-based Government planning inspector in December.

In January a band of angry locals took to the beach armed with placards and signs stating “the peasants are revolting”, “feudal tyrant stealing common land” and “arrogance, ignorance and greed”. They said they were prepared to do everything it takes to stop landowner Charles Williams – who oversees the Caerhays Estate – from installing the ANPR equipment.

Now, it seems, their protests have worked. Kezia Bennett, of the Friends of Portholland Against Predatory and Ugly Parking Operations, explained: “Our campaign has concluded for now. For the past four-and-a-half years we focused nearly exclusively on planning because that’s all we had to work with. That came to an end just before last Christmas when the independent planning inspector in Bristol overturned the local planning decision to keep the beach free from urban infrastructure.

“We ramped up our campaign when there were signs in early February that the infrastructure was going to be installed and we were unable to get a response from the estate. Our demonstration outside Caerhays Castle worked and we have since been in communication with the estate.

“This outcome is the best we have been able to negotiate with them. As it stands, a tariff will be introduced to the site alongside a payment machine and associated signage. There will be no parking enforcement. It will be the equivalent of comparable sites across the Roseland, of which Caerhays and East Portholland are an anomaly.”

She added that the new car park set-up is being installed by Initial Parking free of charge and also operated by the company for nothing. All monies raised will be used by the Caerhays Estate for the car park’s upkeep and for amenities such as toilets at East Portholland, sea wall defences, lifebuoys, etc.

Ms Bennett stressed to locals and visitors alike: “If you don’t use it, we will lose it. If there is further vandalism on the site or if the estate don’t make £1,000 by the end of the year then they will go ahead with installing an ANPR car park.

“Our preference was for Veryan Parish Council to operate the car park on the estate’s behalf and they were willing to do so. However, we must place our trust in the estate and they have said they will be transparent with their takings. This is infinitely preferable to the awful menace of those cameras and all that signage everywhere. That was of huge detriment to the enjoyment and positive benefits of visiting the beach as well as being an eyesore.”

She said: “We would like to thank the estate for the climb-down and compromise. This highlights there are clear benefits of landowners working with local communities to achieve workable outcomes that benefit both sides.

“This has been a community effort. Not just locally, but the support we have had from regular visitors who are part of the beach community has been immense. We are all passionate about this special place, we have strong ties to it for multiple reasons and that has united us in our bid to protect it. We can’t thank everyone who has played a part enough and that includes the 1,600 people who signed our petition. There is growing resentment towards ANPR car parks and their impact in rural areas.

“We hope our campaign inspires other small communities facing threats which sever the deep connections people have with the land and their access to it.”

The Caerhays Estate have been approached for comment.