Four city centre car parks have been temporarily closed by the council because they are barely being used.

The authority says the move to shut Longport, the Castle Street multi-storey, St Radigunds and Rosemary Lane car parks in Canterbury will save tens of thousands of pounds, largely in business rates.

Its ANPR camera technology showed that at lunchtime on Monday, there was only one car in Longport, four in Castle Street and 16 in St Radigunds.

The council says the savings are vital at a time its parking income has "fallen like a stone".

Holders of residents' parking permits have been contacted and advised of their nearest alternative car parks,

including Holman's Meadow, Pound Lane, and Castle Row.

Although also currently very underused, they are staying open to provide spaces for key workers who are allowed to park for free.

City council head of transport and environment, Richard Moore, said: "Anyone who has seen our car parks recently will know they've been deserted since the lockdown began.

"There seems little point keeping them open and paying all our normal costs, when we could close them at the inconvenience of nobody and save that money.

"We will be able to reopen them at very short notice when demand picks up, but with no date yet confirmed for when the current restrictions may start to be lifted, we do not anticipate this happening any time soon."

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