Parking restrictions introduced at Black Country beauty spot amid lockdown
Parking restrictions have been brought in at a Black Country beauty spot amid the Government lockdown.
Only 30 cars are allowed to park at Baggeridge Country Park, near Sedgley, at any one time.
The measures have been introduced by South Staffordshire Council to enforce social distancing.
Council bosses believe this is a better alternative than closing the park altogether.
This is because the council can still enforce how many people are attending. Otherwise, people would still access the park by foot if it was closed.
Some parks have closed amid the lockdown - such as Himley Hall & Park, which borders Baggeridge.
South Staffordshire Council issued a statement after a concerned member of the public photographed about a dozen cars parked at Baggeridge and asked why the park wasn't closed.
Mark Jenkinson, assistant director for community services at South Staffordshire Council, said: "We have been monitoring the park on a daily basis and usage remains low.
"All amenities on site are closed and those using the park are maintaining and abiding by social distancing measures.
"Closing the park may seem like the best option but whilst it remains open we feel we can control and monitor the numbers accessing the site more effectively.
"Once the gates are closed the risks won’t go away as people will still access the park on foot and those who want to use the site will find other areas to park and will continue use it.
"In addition, despite being a rural district not everyone has access to open spaces or can carry out physical activity safely in their immediate surroundings.
"Keeping the park open provides a safe controlled area for those residents in this situation to exercise and maintain their health and wellbeing.
"The communities secretary Robert Jenrick said [recently] councils should only be closing parks as a last resort unless it is impossible to maintain social distancing in them.
"We will continue to monitor the situation on a daily basis and have reduced car parking capacity to 30 cars at any one time [our car park holds more than 220 vehicles].
"If people fail to behave appropriately we will have no hesitation in closing the park, but whilst numbers driving to the site remain controlled and low we are trying to take a proportionate approach to the situation and control the risk.
"The area of the car park where the photo was taken holds 60 vehicles and the picture shows around 14 vehicles."
