The leader of Cotswold District Council (CDC) has delivered a robust defence of his council as a row over coach access in Bourton-on-the-Water reaches boiling point.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire breakfast host Mark Cummings waded into the debate over the 'Venice of the Cotswolds' destination when he grilled CDC leader Joe Harris over allegations that CDC had failed to show leadership and head off an approaching ban on coach use of the village's main car park.

But because the car park is private, Mr Harris rebuffed the criticism and suggested it's up to private businesses who are worried about the tourism impact to thrash out their own solution.

Mr Cummings said: "Bourton-on-the-Water is our ultimate tourist destination; you would be hard pressed to find a more iconic place and the lifeblood of the local businesses are the coach trips bringing national and international visitors who spend freely in the pubs shops cafes and ice cream parlours.

"They are the ones who spend the most money and while some coaches can hold about 85 passengers, on average it's about 50, a private car park in Bourton used to have 19 coach bays, which means about 1,000 tourists coming in, all ready to splash the cash."

However, Bourton Vale Parking, who run the private car park, reduced the coach bays to eight spaces earlier this year and intend to cut the spaces to zero in 2024.

"The private owners," who had declined to come onto the show, "want to get rid of the coach spaces because they reckon they wil get more money with higher turnover if they give the space to cars," he added.

A trawl of business views in the village revealed the extent of the headache.

Sarah James, who runs SJs shop, said: "It will have an impact, we are lucky that we have a lot of people who come into the village in their own cars however the bus population does bring in a lot of tourists."

Julia Waring, of the Small Talk Tea Rooms, said coaches make up a huge part of business, both for her revenue in tea and gifts.

Michael Tambini, general manager of the Cotswold Motoring and Toy Museum added: "If there are 20-odd coaches each carries between 50-70 people that's a huge number coming. It's crazy having private cars coming rather than coaches."

Businesses were pressing CDC to see if it could adapt its own car park as a solution, he added.

Rory Stewart, deputy manager of the Willow restaurant, said the loss could spell thousands of pounds less in their tills.

But Julian Philips, the owner of Bewdley-based Phillips Travel International, said he'd already given up offering Bourton coach trips and had switched to other Cotswold venues.

Mr Phillips said: "There is a prohibition for coaches along the main street. Bourton is in a small minority now and I would say it is a lack of leadership by the local authority. They preach about reducing the use of cars to reduce the carbon footprint and improve air quality - one way to do that is to have 30-50 people who turn up on a coach that can park in the space that would only be taken up by just three cars. The only way is to stop the coach prohibition so we can go through, use the bus stops, drop off and go and park outside."

Andrew Lund-Yates, the owner of the Old New Inn and the village's Model Village, said businesses have been involved with other stakeholders to try and create space elsewhere in the village.

He said: "It is problematic, there is only a certain amount of land to do that and as regards the district council's car park, we are hoping to get some solution so we can more forward."

But CDC leader Joe Harris told Mark Cummings claims of a lack of leadership were "rubbish to be honest".

"At the district council we have been trying to pull stakeholders together to facilitate a solution."

"The issue is that a private company is withdrawing coach parking and the Hacklings, who own the car park, are putting locals in a difficult position. It's their land; they can do what they want."

Mr Cummings suggested other land might be found, but Mr Harris said: "Land is very scarce but the issue is we are very constrained in Burton, with a long-standing problem for coach parking.

"And even if there was a big piece of land, where's the money coming from? My local authority has had its funding from the government cut by over 50% in the last ten years and we have other cost pressures. There is no magic wand we can suddenly wave to sort the issue."

He also ruled out subsising coach spaces at the private car park: "We are not going to have the taxpayer subsidising a private company who can make a profit off this site; what I want to see ultimately is the Hacklings talking to the community to come up with a solution."

Mr Harris added that CDC is looking at the feasibility of getting "a couple" of coach spaces in to its own car park, but he was not confident that that site lends itself to coach parking and the work would take more budget soon after recent investment of "hundreds of thousands" at the facility.

A traffic regulation order to enable drop-and-drive coach access through the village could be possible, he said, if the county council created a traffic regulation order, but such permission could fall foul of existing legislation.

"I'd like to see private businesses talking to this private business to try to sort this issue.

It's unfair to say CDC has shown any lack of leadership."

Punchline-Gloucester.com says: "We're sure many Bourton businesses were choking on their cornflakes over this morning's debate. But where do you park responsibility for this? We think expectations on local government can sometimes be too high and, as Joe Harris bluntly put it, it is rubbish to expect cash-strapped councils to perform magic! Come on, Bourton Vale Parking, be the heroes and strike a deal! 

What's your take on the coach crisis? Email editor Mark Owen  to share your views.