A West Somerset beauty spot car parking firm at the centre of bitter complaints by residents and visitors is to be replaced.

Landowner the East Quantoxhead Estate contracted a parking company to enforce fees in a car park at Kilve Beach after its expansion was given retrospective planning permission early in 2021.

Cash-only ticket machines and an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera were then installed.

Ever since, there have been waves of complaints about ‘needless’ £100 penalty notices being issued to drivers using the car park in Sea Lane, Kilve, just off the busy A39.

The beach is a popular attraction for tourists who walk the West Somerset coast, and those looking for fossils on the beach, or wanting to explore the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Now, parish council chairman Cllr Steve Collins has confirmed the car park will soon be managed by another operator.

Cllr Collins said he understood there had been a recent change of East Quantoxhead Estate management and the site would now be overseen by Strutt and Parker, which provides strategic business advice and practical management services to private estates and other clients.

He said the change should result in repositioning signage to be more visible to visitors and allowing a variety of ways to pay for parking, even doing so online after a visit.

Cllr Collins said: “They appear to be listening to what the council have been saying about reputational damage that is being caused not just to them but to the village of Kilve as well.

“We will be supportive of the changes if they work.”

The Free Press was awaiting a comment from Strutt and Parker.