East Devon eyes more of south-west’s £800 million coach tourism cash

East Devon is making moves to try and gain more of the nearly £800 million of cash that comes into the region in coach tourism.

Funding towards coach-related signage has now been approved as part of wider efforts to ensure more towns in the district can secure a national coach tourism accreditation.
This week an East Devon District Council’s full council meeting agreed to spend up to £12,000 towards signs that towns will be required to secure the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) coach-friendly status.
The district will fund half the amount – up to a maximum of £1,500 per town – with the respective town or parish council providing the rest.
A CPT report last year showed that the southwest witnessed a £795 million boost to its economy from coach passengers using local businesses and services.
Improving signage and parking have helped various place in Devon secure more coach tourism, and Cllr Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley) said East Devon is trying to promote itself as a “tourist destination that has a distinct offer to other parts” of the county.
Seaton councillor Del Haggerty (Independent) was hailed as spearheading the project, which was called a “model piece of work”.
However, some teething issues with free coach parking were raised by Cllr Haggerty’s fellow Seaton representative, Cllr Marcus Hartnell (Conservative).
He said free parking in the town had been part of its efforts to secure CPT accreditation, but that school buses were parking there during the day to avoid using their depots, meaning there were fewer spaces for coaches.
“It’s an issue we have tried to deal with locally by talking to schools and talking to council officers, but we haven’t managed to get a to a point where it has been solved completely,” he said.
“I think Cllr Haggerty has an agreement from the coach company to remove some but some will remain, but once we have our coach-friendly status, we need to be sure that we have capacity to take [tourist] coaches.”
Cllr Haggerty acknowledged problems with school buses using the free coach parking in Seaton, but that in recent days there had been further progress.
He said the school bus contract had now been taken on by GoAhead, whose UK regional bus director was also the chair of the CPT.

 Cllr Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat) is running in the Seaton and Colyton seat in the Devon County Council elections on May 1.  The other candidates in that seat are: John David Heath (Independent), Ben Ingham (Conservative), Paul Graeme Knott (Labour), Jim Walsh (Reform UK).