Shoppers returning to the city centre next month will be forced to pay £2.80 an hour for the pleasure of using Canterbury’s main car parks, it has been confirmed.

The 70p rise was one of a number of revenue-boosting measures signed off in the city council’s annual budget last week.

It means, from April 1, hourly rates in Watling Street and Queningate - the two car parks deemed the most in-demand - will be fixed just shy of £3.

Fees at Whitefriars, Pound Lane, St Radigunds, Longport, North Lane, Millers Field, Northgate and Castle Row will rise 30p to £2.30.

Meanwhile, tariffs in Station Road West, Castle Street and Holmans Meadow will be lowered to £1.80 in a bid to encourage shoppers to utilise under-used car parks on the periphery of the city centre.

Park and ride users will also met with increased fees as their bus ticket rises from £3.50 to £4.

Away from Canterbury, a 40p-per-hour summertime hike in Reculver Towers, Reculver Country Park, Gorrell Tank and Keams Yard car parks will also come into force.

The controversial budget - approved by the council last Thursday - is designed to tackle the financial blackhole left by the Covid crisis.

Other changes will see three unspecified public toilets shut down, along with the removal of the cafe and weddings function from Kings Hall.

Tower House in Westgate Gardens is to be leased to a private operator, burial fees will rise, and maintenance and repairs on cycle paths will be cut back.

The average council tax bill will increase by £4.95.

The most contentious issue discussed at last Thursday’s meeting was the proposal to axe a third hour of free parking for disabled people in the district’s car parks.

'It’s a balanced budget and we will start to stabilise our finances, build back our reserves and transform the council into a more efficient operation...'

The council predicts it can pocket an additional £30,000 by making the changes as it looks to address a £9 million deficit caused by the pandemic.

But the decision to reduce free parking for Blue Badge holders has sparked fears it will encourage more people to park on double yellow lines.

Despite claims the move is “penalising the disabled”, the plan to cut the third hour of uncharged parking was voted through.

Cllr Rachel Carnac, the authority’s leading member for finance, said: “It’s a fair and responsible budget. It’s a balanced budget and we will start to stabilise our finances, build back our reserves and transform the council into a more efficient operation.”

But opposition Labour leader Cllr Alan Baldock was not convinced. He said: “All I see is a budget that is patching up the consequences for the failure of 10 years of Tory austerity and numerous bad local decisions that bought this council to its knees under the pressures of Covid.”

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