Almost all of Thanet’s car-parking charges will be frozen for 2014/15 and the Saturday free parking schemes are to continue - that’s if proposals from Cabinet are agreed at Full Council in December.
These are just two of the measures being proposed following a public consultation involving more than 700 local people, businesses and visitors.
The consultation was carried out as part of a wider review of the council’s parking service.
Feedback revealed that car parking charges were the biggest priority for people when deciding where to park and where to shop, with the availability of parking and the range of shops on offer other key factors.
Additional proposals to be considered by Councillors at a meeting in December include:
- moving all off-street car parks to a linear charging system (so motorists get parking time for all money inserted into the machine);
- reducing the charging period for on-street parking from 7.00pm to 6.00pm
- closing Mill Lane Multi-Story Car Park at 7.00pm;
- bringing the on-street charge at Lawn Road (Broadstairs) in line with other on street charges of £1.20 per hour.
The proposals would also see an extension of the free Saturday parking schemes, which were introduced in June 2012 to support local businesses and to encourage visitors and residents to shop locally. This includes Vere Road in Broadstairs, Harold Road in Cliftonville, Mill Lane in Margate and Leopold Street in Ramsgate.
In addition, the scheme in Albion Road car park in Birchington will continue, but will now include a 10p charge for the first 30 minutes of parking to prevent the anti-social use of the existing free ticket scheme.
Cabinet Member for Operational Services, Cllr Alan Poole, said: “We’ve listened to residents and the results of the parking consultation show that parking charges must be seen to be reasonable. We have a delicate balance to maintain that ensures that there are sufficient parking spaces available in key areas without discouraging visits to our town centres.
“The parking review was about more than just parking charges. We were looking at the condition of our car parks, the signage in place, the number of spaces available and where people actually want to park.
“I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the consultation. The feedback we’ve received has been invaluable and will be used to make continuous improvements to the service we provide.”
Results to the public consultation are available to view now at
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