TRADERS in New Quay are calling on a housing association to fully reopen a car park following a bumper Easter weekend for visitors.

All the car parks in the town were full over the weekend as locals and tourists headed to the seaside.

But fears are mounting over the future of one of the town’s major car parks, which is owned by housing association Barcud, who are awaiting permission to build houses on the much of the site.

The housing association also owns the top section of the Central car park, which remained closed throughout the Easter weekend.

Ceredigion planners are currently mulling over an application by Barcud to build 30 affordable homes on Central Car Park, which will see spaces reduced from 315 to just 91, a 71 per cent reduction.

This has been met with stiff opposition by local traders and campaigners, with more than 2,300 people signing a petition against the loss of car parking.

Over the bank holiday weekend, volunteers with the Save New Quay Car Park campaign spoke with drivers and took aerial footage of the town’s car parks to show their capacity and to call on Barcud to reopen the top section of Central car park.

The campaigners said: “On Easter Sunday well outside the traditional summer peak season every public car park in New Quay was full, with visitors struggling to find anywhere to park.

“Despite this, the entire top section of the Central Car Park remained closed, with drivers being turned away from one of the town’s key parking areas.

“The car park is unmanned, and Barcud the housing association responsible for managing the site continues to claim that the car park is underused and that the top section is “not needed.”

“This claim is demonstrably false.

“Photographic and video evidence from Easter Sunday shows cars circling the town, queues forming, and visitors being forced to leave after failing to find a space.

“This is clear, visual proof of significant demand. By keeping the top section closed, Barcud is artificially dampening down that demand to justify its closure.

“Social media posts and comments on our petition page further demonstrate overwhelming public concern and frustration, making it clear that New Quay needs more parking, not less.

“Barcud is a not-for-profit housing association largely funded by tax payers, registered as a Community Benefit Society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. This legal structure is specifically designed for organisations whose purpose is to serve and benefit the wider community. Yet Barcud’s actions in New Quay are having the opposite effect restricting access, damaging the local economy, and undermining the needs of both residents and visitors.

“We urge Barcud to reopen the top section of the Central Car Park immediately and begin acting in line with the principles and responsibilities set out in its founding purpose - to support, not harm, local communities.

Barcud chose not to comment directly on the issues raised, but instead pointed the Cambrian News to a document it supplied to Ceredigion County Council planners, where it argued the loss of car parking from the housing project will have ‘no major impact on the town’s economy’.

In the document, Barcud also warns that Central car park requires investment, adding: “Failure to grand planning permission would fail to secure the long-term future of the car park and provide no certainty for the land use going forward.”

Barcud also claim the development would represent a £7.5 million investment into the town.

Barcud also claimed that the car park is not at capacity for most of the year, which traders in the town say ‘fundamentally misunderstands the nature and reality of tourism in New Quay’.

Responding to concerns from local traders, Barcud said in a letter to planners: “The car park is currently surfaced in gravel that is not wheelchair or pram friendly and there is no segregation between cars and pedestrians.

“The car park in its current state does not meet the CSS Wales Parking Standards and Ceredigion County Council Parking Standards SPG and requires significant investment to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

The proposed development will provide 91 public car parking spaces.

“The spaces would be serviced by a new compliant access, roads and footpaths that are properly surfaced and include disabled and electric car charging spaces.

“The total cost of the work required to provide this car park is currently estimated to be £650,000.”

In response, New Quay Traders Association said: “The town’s economy relies heavily on peak-season trade, with July and August seeing parking facilities consistently operating at full or near-full capacity.

“Evaluating the car park's viability by averaging use across the entire year ignores these crucial peak periods when local businesses generate a significant proportion of their annual turnover.

“The assertion that investing in additional parking capacity would not be commercially sensible due to off-peak underuse overlooks the critical need to sustain the town during these economically essential periods.

“Failure to provide adequate parking during peak season directly damages local businesses, undermines visitor experiences, and harms New Quay’s long-term sustainability.

“Thus, decisions on parking capacity should focus on genuine seasonal demand rather than misleading annual averages.”

The traders responding to claims of the car park’s uncertain future added: “Barcud’s claim that they are "securing the future" of 91 parking spaces in a private car park is both misleading and concerning.

“This framing implies that New Quay should be grateful for the retention of any spaces at all, yet the reality is that Barcud has taken ownership of a long-standing community asset and is now positioning itself as a private landlord over essential infrastructure.”

In a letter to Barcud following Easter weekend, the campaign group added: “The demand was overwhelming, and we witnessed firsthand the impact: drivers circling the town in frustration, some forced to leave altogether, and significant disruption to the community. Meanwhile, the upper section of the Central Car Park remained closed.

“We understand a fallen tree may be affecting access to this area.

“As a community, we are more than willing to assist with any maintenance or clearance required to enable its safe reopening.

“This space is clearly still needed evidenced not only by recent visitor demand, but by the fact that new parking signage was installed as recently as 2022, and by testimony from those previously employed at the site who confirm its recent active use.

“Barcud has suggested that the car park is underused and not needed.

“Our experience, and the photographic and video evidence collected over Easter, show otherwise.”

New Quay Town Council has objected to the proposals, raising concerns including the loss of parking spaces and its impact on the tourism industry, a lack of public transport in the town to cater for additional residents, and also questions the demand for one-bed units in the town, and 29 objections raised similar issues.

The application is not listed for the April meeting, with Ceredigion council saying: “Additional information was provided by the applicant following the last development management committee.

“This is being assessed, and the case will be reported back in due course.”

The application is expected to return to a future meeting, the next one scheduled to take place on 14 May.