Council drop plans to introduce charges in rural car parks around Dover
The council found it would cost more than it would raise
Plans to charge for free rural car parks are set to be scrapped after a council found it would cost more than it raised.
Dover District Council’s (DDC) Labour administration first proposed charging at several village car parks in late 2023 and early 2024.
Under the scheme, currently free car parks in The Street in Ash, Eastry High Street, Wingham High Street and Reach Road in St Margaret’s were set to cost £1.80 an hour.
However, after fierce opposition from villagers, those proposals were scrapped.
The authority launched a review of its parking services last year, with a report due to be considered by its cabinet on September 7.
Those papers explain that DDC officers found “The low level of costs being incurred does not support the implementation of charging in the car parks reviewed.”
They add that: “The costs of implementing charging would outweigh the potential income streams in some areas.”
As well as the aforementioned village car parks, they reviewed charging in smaller car parks in the district’s major towns, such as St Martin’s Battery, Buckland Bridge, Elms Vale Rec and North Military Road in Dover.
Also included were Danes Recreation Ground, the Drop Redoubt, Manley Close, River Rec and Victoria Street, all in Dover, and Victoria Park, Marke Wood Rec, Borrow Pit, the Royal Marines Memorial Garden, and Granville Road, all in Walmer.
However, DDC officers said charges should not be introduced at any of these.
Two free car parks at Fitness Fields in Whitfield and Kearsney Abbey were not considered for the introduction of charges “due to the commercial nature of their operations.”
However, “the introduction of a ticket machine to require vehicles to display a four-hour ticket at no cost is being introduced at Kearsney Abbey to support enforcement of the existing regulations.”
Their review found that last year, the maintenance costs of the free car parks totalled only £17,000.
However, additional costs including the costs of the administration and enforcement teams totalled £74,000.
“The direct costs of maintaining the free car parks equates to c.£700 per car park per year,” the report adds.
The report recommends that DDC’s cabinet maintain the funding of free car parks given the low costs, and accept the risk that if serious maintenance were needed the car parks would have to close.
Cllr Michael Nee (Lab), cabinet member for finance, said: “This process has been led from the start by consultation and following the 2025 parking strategy where it was identified that there was a cost to maintain rural car parks that generated no income, concerns over charging for rural car parks were raised by the parishes and villages.
“This is why we committed to a phase two implementation review to conduct an extensive survey to understand how the rural car parks were being used and understand by how much the free car parks were being subsidised.
“It was the 2025 parking strategy that introduced the possibility of charging, a phase two review was agreed, and this paper is the result with a recommendation not to charge.
“Given the choice, nobody welcomes paying for parking, so it was inevitable that there was going to be an outcry.
“Looking past the white noise, what the paper demonstrates is that we have listened to and worked with the parishes and villages to reach this recommendation.”
Cllr Dan Friend (Con), shadow cabinet member for parking services, said: “This report vindicates what Conservative councillors and residents have been saying from the start: charging in these free community car parks simply doesn’t stack up.
“The costs are low, charging could damage local businesses and it risks simply pushing cars onto surrounding residential streets.
“Scrap the planned charges, keep our free car parks free, and go further by reconsidering the unnecessary maximum-stay changes affecting Sandwich and Deal.”
“DDC needs a parking policy that supports our high streets and communities, not one that makes it harder or more expensive for people to use them.”
At the same meeting, DDC’s cabinet is set to vote to introduce two free parking programmes over the Christmas period.
One will include three free hours parking at planned Christmas events from 3pm, with one event each for Dover, Deal and Sandwich.
The other will make parking across the district free for the first 2 hours on Small Business Saturday, which is December 5.
First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.