Row over car parking charges at 'Winnie-the-Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood'

Row over car parking charges at 'Winnie-the-Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood'

October 18, 2023

Row breaks out over new car parking charges at Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest – as vandals tear down signs and visitors blast ‘money-making scam’

A row has erupted over car parking charges at the forest which inspired the Hundred Acre Wood in Winnie-the-Pooh.

Vandals have removed more than a third of the parking signs from the picturesque Ashdown Forest, East Sussex near Forest Row after conservators voted to charge motorists in a bid to keep the forest clean. 

The charges were introduced to help address the financial deficit from maintaining the beautiful forest. Fees range from £2 an hour to £5 for the day, or £80 for an annual pass, with a cheaper concessionary charge of £5 a year available to those on benefits. 

But some visitors have taken exception to the charge and have launched a campaign of vandalism at car parks in the forest. The damage is thought to be the work of disgruntled visitors angry at the introduction of parking charges. 

The parking charges were met with anger from local residents and visitors to the Forest when they were introduced last year – with one person branding the fees as a ‘disgusting money-making scam’.

A public consultation saw more than half of those who took part reject the move – with 43 per cent of the 2,800 respondents disagreeing strongly with the proposal, and a further 11 per cent disagreeing slightly.

Vandals have torn down or defaced over 18 parking signs in Ashdown Forest

The damage is thought to be the work of disgruntled visitors angry at the introduction of parking charges

Landscape Recovery Manager Mark Infield with signs that have been torn down 

Janet Wirdnam (left) and Julia Fairhall who enjoy the forest

Posting on X earlier this year, one local wrote: ‘The consultation on Ashdown Forest was clear – no one wanted it. You’ll now regularly find cars parked in lay-bys to avoid charges. ‘won’t pay to park there. My council tax paid for its upkeep and there has been no acknowledgment by the council they have withdrawn funding.’ 

However, some visitors were mortified by the vandalism. Mark Infield, Landscape Recovery Manager at Ashdown Forest, said: ‘We are experiencing some serious vandalism and this has spiked in the last couple of weeks. But we believe this either one person or a very small number of people.

‘We thought long and hard before introducing parking charges and a lot of thought has been put into it to make it fair.

‘There is £5 annual charge for those on benefits as we didn’t want anyone excluded who was less able to afford to pay. We have sold 230 of those annual passes so it shows the scheme is working. These are important revenues to help us keep the forest open and safe, but these attacks are definitely eroding that money.’

One visitor, Janet Fairhall, said: ‘We’re horrified. We understand you have to pay something towards the maintenance of this beautiful place. It’s really well-managed and we don’t want it to turn back into a wilderness that no-one can access. We feel it maybe just one person or a couple of people carrying out these acts of vandalism in the dead of night. Hopefully they’ll realise that we’re all aware of it and keeping our eyes peeled and that will act as a deterrent.’

Managers say the attacks are ‘eroding’ funds aimed at maintaining the forest and its facilities

Each sign costs £99 and there are costs incurred with having to put the signs back up 

Missing signs at Four Counties car park

Another visitor, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘This isn’t the same as London’s ULEZ charge – it is only a small charge and all national parks have parking charges these days. People who come to this beautiful forest should contribute a little something so that others can continue to enjoy it.’

Forest managers believe the vandalism may be the handiwork of just one lone protester or a very small group.

As well as the 18 signs which have been torn down and thrown aside, others have been defaced and scrawled on. Managers say the attacks are ‘eroding’ funds aimed at maintaining the forest and its facilities.

They say the income generated has been used to improve and maintain paths, gates and bridges as well as fixing potholes in car parks, and restoring eroded entrances and exits.

The vandals have caused irreparable damage to all 18 signs which managers are being forced to replace.

Landscape Recovery Manager Mark Infield beside a parking sign

Each sign costs £99 and there are costs incurred with having to put the signs back up in the car parks. Since the charges were introduced in November 47 signs have been torn down or damaged at a cost of £6,772.

One visitor, Janet Fairhall, said: ‘We’re horrified. We understand you have to pay something towards the maintenance of this beautiful place.

‘It’s really well-managed and we don’t want it to turn back into a wilderness that no-one can access.

‘We feel it maybe just one person or a couple of people carrying out these acts of vandalism in the dead of night. Hopefully they’ll realise that we’re all aware of it and keeping our eyes peeled and that will act as a deterrent.’

Another visitor, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘This isn’t the same as London’s ULEZ charge – it is only a small charge and all national parks have parking charges these days.

‘People who come to this beautiful forest should contribute a little something so that others can continue to enjoy it.’

Ashdown Forest is famous as being the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood, the setting of AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books.

The forest is an Area of Outstanding Beauty covering 10 square miles and on the edge of the forest there is a copy of the original Poohsticks Bridge where Pooh played with game with the books other characters.

The game involves players throwing sticks over the upstream side of a bridge into the river. The winner is the one whose stick emerges from under the bridge first.

A new bridge – a copy of the original – was built in its place and still delights children today who flock in their thousands to lean over the three-plank handrail to play Poohsticks into the tributary of the River Medway.

Forest managers say the vast majority of visitors are happy to pay for parking, with only 93 penalty notices being issued since the introduction of charges last November.

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