The scrapping of controversial car parking charges in Crymych’s Mart Ground Car Park has been hailed as a victory of joint working and the beginning of a new period of prosperity for the village.

Pembrokeshire County Council introduced the unpopular charges, in the once free car park, on St Davids Day last year.

In the ensuing months the village’s monthly furniture sales and weekly Saturday markets closed down (it reopened last month) as did other small business attendance at the rugby club was also affected.

A 600 signature petition against the charges was presented to Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC). The authority’s cabinet noted last September that usage of the car park had dropped and there had been “numerous issues” with people parking in other parts of the village, namely the school, the medical centre and nearby streets.

Council figures showed that the purchase of four hour tickets had almost halved in the first five months of car parking charges and that overall ticket sales had dropped by nearly 20 percent in the same period. Based on that usage the estimated gross annual income for the year is £5,000 gross.

Councillors at that meeting heard that Crymych Community Council had asked to take over the running of the car park operation in exchange for a fee.

After six more months of negotiations fees at the car park were completely scrapped on April 1 with the community council covering the estimated car park revenue.

Crymych County Councillor, Keith Lewis, explained that the community council had agreed to pay PCC £3250 a year and take over the running of the car park.

This has come at no extra cost to the council tax payer, as the money had already been budgeted as part of the community council’s plans to run public toilets in the village. The toilets had then been run by volunteers and sponsored so the allocated money was surplus to funds.

“We really think this will be a boost for Crymych,” he said. “It will make car parking that much easier in the village."