Tonbridge residents outraged after being charged for Sunday parking.

Despite protests in June, the new rules put into force today mean that visitors can no longer park for free on a Sunday.

Transcript

00:00Sundays, known for roasts, church and car boot sales, but to drivers it's always been

00:05a day where you can park for free.

00:07For motorists in Tunbridge and Morling, as of today, it's now going to cost them to leave

00:11their vehicles at most car parks in the area on Sundays.

00:15The only days that will be completely free are Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's

00:18Day.

00:19In addition, two more hours have been added to evenings, increasing the time visitors

00:23can be charged from 6pm to 8pm.

00:26Well despite all the changes, people are still using the car parks, including myself.

00:31But it begs the question, do people actually mind about the changing restrictions, or is

00:35it a necessity that they just have to put up with?

00:37I think it's ridiculous.

00:38People are going to stop coming to the town, shops are going to shut, prices keep going

00:43up.

00:44People can't afford it.

00:45I think the council are just trying to squander, take money from us, more and more money all

00:49the time.

00:50Look at the state of the high street.

00:51Are people going to be encouraged to come and spend money in Tunbridge if they have

00:56to pay for parking all the time?

00:57The thing I'm concerned about is weekends, and particularly Sundays, because the churches

01:01here depend on free parking, and I think it's going to affect a lot of people.

01:07More changes include extra spaces being made, and free parking for up to half an hour being

01:11introduced in several different car parks near the town centre.

01:15While in certain car parks the first hour of parking was made free, residents are worried

01:20about the impact it might have on local businesses, especially those that profit from foot traffic

01:24towards the end of the day, like bars and restaurants.

01:28The real challenge for me comes in terms of what the direct impact of parking charges

01:35changing will be on individual businesses and organisations.

01:40We can predict and we can look at how this will change based on what's happened elsewhere,

01:46but you're never going to be able to replicate somewhere like Tunbridge once again.

01:51Each community is different.

01:52We've always treated each community as being very different, and the key thing for us is

01:57to look at this as it happens and be flexible and be able to make changes when we need to.

02:02But this has been an ongoing issue for Tunbridge, with a protest being held in June over the

02:06plans which were ultimately unsuccessful in changing the council's mind.

02:11Well with parallels on some of those parking rules in Aylesford, Larkfield and the on-street

02:15spaces in West Morling, many might be wondering if this could catch on outside the council's jurisdiction.

02:20Finn McDermid for KMTV in Tunbridge.