PARKING fees at a Gower beauty spot are putting beach lovers off from visiting the area more regularly, a visitor has claimed.
Matt Howell has launched a petition fight to lobby against the charges at the car park in the picturesque Oxwich Bay.
The 27-year-old Swansea University student, from Uplands, claimed a full day parking fee would set him back £4.50 for a morning but an afternoon was £3.50.
But car park owner Thomas Methuen-Campbell, who also has an interest in The Coalhouse, hit back at the claims and said the parking cost stood at £4 a day before 2pm and a sliding scale was in place after that time.
He also stressed investment has been ploughed into maintaining the car park and keeping it spick and span.
But Mr Howell said he believed a lesser charge would ensure more people would use the area.
He said: "If I went to the beach in Oxwich every day it would cost me a lot of money.
"Going to the beach should be free. In 2010 it was £2.50 to park at the site, it has been creeping up to £3.50 but in just a couple of weeks it has gone up to £4.50.
"If you are going there for 10 or 20 minutes it shouldn't be £4.50 as the car park is on marshland."
He added: "It should be regulated in terms of price.
"A lot of the council car parks cost £5 and they have Tarmac, but the car park has no marked car parking spaces."
Mr Howell said he believed there should be a discounted parking rate.
"They are not monitoring the car park," he added. "I do think there should be a charge but there should be discounted rates rather than £4.50."
But Mr Methuen-Campbell said the actual cost was £4 a day and work had been carried out to improve the facilities at the site. He said: "It costs £4 a day to park before 2pm and its £3.50 after and then it goes on a sliding scale down to £2.50. We do not charge on a hourly basis but it's done on a daily basis.
"We have maintained the fees at the same level over the last couple of years.
"We employ three men to clear the rubbish and clean the loos.
"We have business rates from Swansea Council and do maintenance work."
He added: "We have done a lot of work and we have replastered and redone outside the beach shop. We have refurbished the outside of our loos."
He said the car park costs a substantial amount to run and it was time consuming clearing the car park of the sand.
The petition is available on www. change.org/en-GB/petitions/swansea- county-council-regulate-parking-fees-at -oxwich-bay
