Portland Bill Car Park to be taken over by The Crown Estate

The Portland Bill Car Park - currently leased to and operated by Dorset Council - belongs to The Crown Estate, which has decided to take back control from Tuesday, April 2.

There will be no changes at first for car park users other than who collects the tariffs.

The Crown Estate says it intends to replicate the pricing set by Dorset Council but it has made an application for significant changes.

This includes controlled access barriers, repaving with permeable asphalt to improve drainage and fix potholes, introducing four EV charging points and reducing the number of parking spaces by almost 100.

The car park sits directly next to the iconic Portland Bill Lighthouse (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

A spokesperson for The Crown Estate said: "We have submitted a planning application to Dorset Council for improvement works to the car park, but other than new signage, no changes to the car park layout are planned until the autumn or winter period, subject to planning.

"Provided planning goes through, the intention would be to phase resurfacing works over the quieter autumn or winter months to enable the car park to be operational throughout."

The application also includes plans to: regularise the car park spacing, increase and enhance the disabled parking spaces, increase the aisle widths for moving cars and create designated areas for pedestrians to safely flow around the car park.

This will result in a total of 258 car parking spaces, nine blue badge spaces, three coach and one bus spaces, five campervan spaces, a designated motorcycle space and 20 bicycle spaces.

This is down 89 spaces from the 347 currently in place - but there will be more room for cars to move and paths for pedestrians.

Signs put up by Dorset Council at the car park (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)

The Crown Estate says it has been in contact with the nearby businesses, notably the Lobster Pot and the Portland Bill Lighthouse, about these changes.

A Portland Bill resident said she is not looking forward to The Crown Estate taking over. 

She said: "We don't know where we are going to be able to park. It would have been nice to get a little information just saying what they are going to be doing. It is almost like they have forgotten the people living here.

"They are going to do number plate recognition, pedestrianisation and lots of other changes. We get a lot of people coming down to walk their dogs, what will they have to pay? I feel quite sorry for them.

"I think they are going to ruin it. With these changes and the Pulpit Inn gone, I think we have seen the best of Portland Bill."

A Dorset Council spokesperson said: “On Tuesday, April 2, the running of Portland Bill car park will revert to the Crown Estate which owns the land. This means the Crown Estate will be responsible for setting and collecting the tariffs.

“Our flexible stay and short stay permits and seven-day coach tickets will no longer be valid from that date, and we have notified permit holders of this forthcoming change."

The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by an Act of Parliament, with a diverse portfolio of UK buildings, shoreline, seabed, forestry, agriculture and common land.

The estate is not owned or operated by the royal family, but its assets are hereditary possessions of the sovereign held ‘in right of the crown’.