Pont ar Daf Car Park - Pen y Fan

The Wales Outdoors owner, Andy Lamb, has long campaigned for improvements to the facilities and design of Pont ar Daf Car Park. His visit there on 1st April 2018 led him to write to the National Trust in Brecon for a response to what he sees as mismanagement and abrogation of duty at this popular start point for Pen y Fan. 

This is what he wrote:

'I am writing to voice my continued anger at the mismanagement of the gateway to the Central Brecon Beacons - Pont ar Daf Car Park. 

I have for many years voiced such anger and avoided this spot whenever possible but on Easter Sunday I decided to walk to the snow which was heavy on Corn Ddu and Pen y Fan and so parked in this less than appealing car park. 

I would never, unless desperate, venture into the loos which are wholly substandard but that is not why I am mailing you. It’s to do with the three coffee and burger vans with their separate generators running and the ice cream van with the engine running. 

I ask the question. Do these pay a fee for being in the car park? If they do then perhaps I shouldn’t be sending this complaint to National Trust Brecon but to a central office who might take note, for the accepting of income from these smelly and noisy catering services which diminish the ‘in nature’ experience that most desire when visiting the mountains would, I believe, be gross mismanagement. And if they don’t pay a fee why are they not moved on by a National Trust Ranger? 

These vans are an attraction for those who are not walkers but who are out on day trips in the car. This causes pressure on parking and so, in part, is a cause of the overspilling onto the side of the A470. 

So, not only does the car park area look like a logging site, and it has done for very many years now, but the loos are disgusting and they always have been and now every time I visit the car park, which as I say is as infrequently as possible, it is noisy and smelly and simply looks chaotic. 

I know there are plans for a new car park. This I believe, if the Visitor Centre remains part of those plans, is a mistake. Yes, new loos please, yes, remove the burger vans, but a visitor centre will be a further attraction to an already pressured location. I can see why you have this in mind - perhaps a little castle building but mostly likely the National Trust are looking for a new income stream from the area. This is not what mountains are about. The National Trust has the land so as to be caretakers for the landscape. This ‘job’ seems to have been actively ignored at this location. I therefore believe that the National Trust are not fit for purpose at this site. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

The response was:

'Many thanks for email which has been forwarded to me as Countryside Manager for the National Trust, Brecon Beacons and Monmouthshire.

The lay-by parking and toilets are owned by the Welsh Government and hence are out of our control, as are the numerous food vans.  If you would like a contact address I would be happy to provide it.  

We have recently received planning permission from the Brecon Beacons National Park to provide a new car park. We are also working with Welsh Government and hope to take over the lay-by area including the dreaded toilets.  This will then allow us to provide new toilets to compliment the car park, thereby improving the welcome to this special land in our ownership.  We are not planning to build a visitor centre.'

This is typical of the authorities that manage the countryside - pass it on, layers of red tape, management that aren't visible. This is not good enough - surely these bodies have joint management meetings? Oh well...

We asked for the contact details mentioned in the response email but have, unsurprisingly, not had a reply. 

Since signing off on this post I have received a snail mail address for The Welsh Government in Llandudno Junction - I have not hand written my complaint to them, I'm sure they are aware of the dissatisfaction and life's too short to complain and receive a 'we know and we are working on it' response. I also received this highlighting my original suspicion that these agencies are all working together and making a complete hash of things... 

'We are working with Welsh Government (including Trunk Roads Agent and Visit Wales), to resolve the parking issue – plans can be viewed on this link:

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-beacons/features/proposed-new-car-park-for-pen-y-fan

The full application is at: https://planningonline.beacons-npa.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage

The National Park, NRW and Police support the development'

That's a total of SEVEN agencies with fingers in this pie!

And the work on the new car park for Pen y Fan has begun, indeed in October 2022, and it is ongoing, unfinished and an unsightly mess, still. Once completed the pressure on the main drag up the highest mountain in Southern Britain will be increased rather than diminished. And the burger van/s will remain, and there will be charging to park. The loos? one wonder what will be on offer…

I predict that the verges along the A470 will remain engorged with cars parking, to avoid the charges and as overspill as of course if you build it people use it and the car park will never be large enough to cope with the increase of use.

I must say, planners are not users and planners rarely consult or listen to users. They have an idea and go with it. Ban the charities at weekends. That is my solution and it is a solution that would have worked without any investment and so also without any charging of visitors…