Tonbridge firms fear for future as council proposes newe parking fee

The council Leader hopes this will free up parking spaces for those wishing to go out for the evening, and deter residential parking.

Transcript

00:00 Tunbridge residents could soon be reaching into their purse for an extra two hours a

00:05 night as the council considers increasing night time parking charges at most of its

00:10 46 car parks in the borough. A scary thought for businesses who fear this could drive away

00:16 customers.

00:18 Turek's had his business on the high street for several years. Covid hit his restaurant

00:23 with fewer people stopping in for lunch and he's concerned that an extension on night

00:28 time parking could leave him with empty tables.

00:31 "Hard time at the moment, still getting harder as well. If car park charging few pound, people

00:39 they thinking about it. They change their minds. You know what I mean? If I want to

00:43 go somewhere nice, car park I'm going to few pound. I'm not going that one, I'm going to

00:48 go that one. They have got the car park free, I'll park there and eat meal there."

00:52 But this isn't the only business who has alarm bells ringing. Serhan's restaurant is facing

00:57 similar concerns.

01:01 Parking here has become a regular occurrence for Serhan's staff as it's just around the

01:04 corner from his restaurant. But it's currently costing them around £14 a day to park here

01:09 and that's with the free parking from 6. He says if the council do raise these fees past

01:14 6 o'clock, he doesn't know how his staff are going to cope.

01:17 "It's a massive disappointment if I'm honest with you. It's bad enough that the car parking

01:21 has gone up dramatically. Our staff used to be able to park in the car park for about

01:25 £5 for the whole day and the evening. They struggle to park now as well and to have evening

01:30 charges is ridiculous."

01:32 It's no secret that councils across Kent and the rest of the country have come into gloomy

01:37 days with mounting financial pressures. And the leader of Tunbridge and Morling Borough

01:42 Council says he simply has to find a way to balance the books.

01:46 "At the moment they finish at 6 o'clock but we're consulting on whether that should extend

01:51 to 8 o'clock. That would free up spaces in the evenings which is a particular time in

01:56 which high streets are being used. So we need to make sure that we've got capacity in our

02:00 car parks. So we hope people will be able to have their say during the consultation

02:04 next month and share any thoughts they've got with us."

02:07 "I understand the council need to fill their coffers but I think it's a bit of a backward

02:13 step."

02:14 "I think it's a bit counterproductive because it'll put people off coming in. We come from

02:18 near Rochester where they charge till about 10 and it is a bit off-putting I think."

02:23 "Looking at it from the other point of view, the council has got to increase its revenue

02:28 and parking's a reasonably solid way of doing that."

02:32 "I think it's unfair on all the families who live in flats and only have like one parking

02:36 space but two cars. Why would they try to get money out of us even at night time? Isn't

02:41 it hard for us enough?"

02:43 A tricky time for businesses, councillors and residents alike as they try to cope with

02:48 financial pressures. But locals hope they can work together to ensure the high street

02:53 continues to thrive during these hard times.

02:56 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Tunbridge.