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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