Former Mayor of Truro city is in a “very serious situation”

Bert Biscoe is urging the local authority to put a mitigation plan in place to support Truro following a number of highly publicised moves he says have created “brand-negative messages”.

Bert Biscoe, who is a Truro City Councillor and former Cornwall Councillor, has written to current Mayor of Truro Carol Swain asking her to write “in the strongest possible terms” to the leader of Cornwall Council, Cllr Linda Taylor, and its chief executive Kate Kennally to ask for support and “defend our economy and those who trade and work within it”.

His strong words come after the upper decks of the Cornwall Council-run Moorfield multi-storey car park were closed this week, in addition to a £31.50 penalty for anyone parking longer than three hours in the council’s short stay Old Bridge Street car park, alongside the council’s decision to let half the spaces in the Fairmantle Street coach park to its own bus company.

This has reduced the city’s capacity to adequately accommodate holiday coaches and created a risk that thousands of passengers who spend money in Truro will now go elsewhere.

“We are now in a very serious situation, with costs to town centre traders rising, cost-of-living impacts of inflation continuing to depress consumer spending, and with the messages to our customers and investors becoming increasingly negative and unwelcoming,” said Mr Biscoe.

Of the car park closure, he said: “It has been known for some considerable time that the structural condition of the Moorfield multi-storey needs to be carefully managed.”

Concerning the £31.50 charge at Old Bridge Street car park, he added: “Given the current charging mechanisms in place at Old Bridge Street the assertion that the council is imposing a 3-24-hour tariff on those who stay (whether purposefully or accidentally) for over three hours is unfair – there is no 24-hour period chargeable for using the car park as it is free from midnight to 9am, and costs a flat rate of £2.10 for the period 6pm to midnight.

“Indeed, if Cornwall Council charges the hourly rate (£2.30) for each of the nine hours 9am-6pm (£20.70), and adds the £2.10 flat rate for the evening session, the total is £22.80, which renders the current alleged 3-24-hour tariff both unchargeable and an over-charge, according to charges approved in the Cornwall Parking Order 2024/25. A recent incident when a user refused to pay has attracted much publicity, all of it negative to Truro and supportive of that person, who was eventually arrested.”

Mr Biscoe also had strong words about the coach park: “We will not know the impact of the reduction in capacity until we see what plans are made this winter by visiting tour firms, etc. The likelihood, based on anecdotal information gleaned from informal contact, is that the removal of a town centre parking base affects the quality of service, the timetabling of visits, and the security of passengers, and that this is likely to deter companies from visiting Truro in future.”

In his letter to the current mayor, he added: “I am writing to you to ask that you write in the strongest possible terms to the leader and CEO of Cornwall Council to demand that a mitigation plan be put in place, at Cornwall Council’s expense, to replace lost capacity, to remove punitive penalty tariffs and to support the town in counteracting the brand-negative messages caused by its recent actions. We should not accept efforts to placate us by talk of redirecting people to the park and ride. Truro relies upon a flexible combination of provision.

“I believe that Cornwall Council needs to engage with Truro … and ensure it recognises the need for fair and adequate parking for both cars and coaches, and will work urgently to restore Moorfield to full capacity, will remove the penalty charge at Old Bridge Street and charge by the hour between 9am and 6pm, and will reverse the current situation at the Fairmantle coach park so that we can offer our visitor-customers a convenient, safe and substantive service.”

Cornwall Council says it will provide updates on Moorfield car park following further engineering assessments. Concerning the coach park, the local authority has said it has contacted all local coach operators to advise them of the changes and initial feedback had been positive. “We will consider increasing the number of spaces available if there is a demonstrable need,” added a spokesperson.

The council said the £31.50 charge was introduced in Old Bridge Street car park because “we were finding that a significant number of motorists were parking there all day and essentially clogging up the car park when its purpose is to encourage a turnover of spaces and in turn increase footfall to the city centre”.

Mrs Swain says Mr Biscoe’s letter will be added to the agenda for the next full Truro City Council meeting on June 24 as an item of correspondence, so that all 24 city councillors have an equal opportunity to determine the best course of action.