Pub bars councillors after parking fees were introduced at free car parks

KentOnline / KMTV

The Flying Dutchman pub has barred almost a dozen Swale councillors after voting for parking charges to be introduced at free car parks across the borough. Park road car park (opposite the pub) is one of six car parks potentially affected.

Transcript

00:00Okay, so Joe, why did the pub bond the councillors?

00:02So it came after the decision to bring in parking charges at six car parts across Swale.

00:09The pub basically said that it was to raise awareness of the damage that they would do,

00:16these charges. At the moment in Queenborough, all parking is free.

00:20So they say that it would put visitors off and would actually see people go elsewhere.

00:25The pub landlord, Matthew Nicholas, told me that he actually thought that the reason so many pubs had survived in that area,

00:34there's actually four pubs in Queenborough High Street.

00:37I don't know many other high streets that can say the same for such a small area,

00:41had actually survived was because of the free parking.

00:45And he fears that it will be an hour in the coffin for them.

00:50And what was the councillors' reactions?

00:51Yeah, so I contacted all the councillors.

00:54So there was 10 in total who had been barred from the Flying Dutchman.

00:57I contacted them all to see what they all said.

01:00Some didn't come back to me, some did.

01:02One was Councillor Dan Gibson, who is a Faversham councillor.

01:08And he said that while he was very sorry that the pub had barred him,

01:13that he would actually go to the bear in Faversham,

01:17where people had been paying for a long time for their parking.

01:20So apologetic, but also kind of standing their ground on the vote that they made on Thursday.

01:27And why did the committee vote for the measures in the first place?

01:30Yeah, so it's all about bringing in revenue.

01:33The council is cash-strapped.

01:35In February, it had to plug a hole of £1.7 million from its reserves.

01:41So it needs the extra cash where it can find it.

01:45And car parking is one of the only ways that it can actually bring in new revenue.

01:51So it was about bringing in revenue.

01:53They reckon across the six car parks, it would bring in about £36,000 every year to its coffers.

01:59Although it would have to pay £50,000 initially to get these car parks up and running in terms of bringing in fees.

02:08And so does this mean Kent residents should prepare for charges in the area?

02:13They should and they shouldn't.

02:15It's got to go to a public consultation first.

02:19So the public will actually get to have a say on the matter.

02:22Whether that will influence the final vote, which will come at a different council meeting later in the year, we don't know.

02:30But maybe get your wallets ready to pay for them.

02:35All right. Thank you, Joe.

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