Controversially installed parking meters along Hythe seafront have cost more than £36,000 to install, it's been revealed.

And that's not including the £10,000 it cost to relocate them to the other side of the road along Princes Parade.

The 12 machines along the road went live at the beginning on April, despite hundreds of residents protesting the concept with petitions.

A Freedom of Information request to the council has exposed the full cost of the meters is £36,456, equating to £3038 per device.

But the council went on to spend thousands more in March adjusting the positions of the machines.

Scores of people said 'lives were being put at risk' when they were erected on the opposite side of the 40mph road to the new parking bays.

A council spokesman said the cost of moving them to the south side included cutting new access points, relocating the meters and creating Perspex covers, and is something they decided to do following the public feedback.

The authority said the decision for parking charges was made to improve parking flow and ease congestion on the seafront for when 150 homes and a leisure centre are built - a development submitted by itself that has already cost taxpayers more than £800,000 before it has been approved.

Visitors to the beach now pay from 60p per half hour to £7 a day, where it was previously free of change, with most council car parking across the district being pay and display between 8am and 6pm daily.

A pay-per-minute scheme has also been introduced to 'give more flexibility to motorists', according to Cllr Ann Berry, cabinet member for transport.

The authority hopes to raise £633,945 through the scheme this year since its introduction two months ago.

Cllr Berry will review parking in surrounding roads three months after the scheme takes off to monitor overflow congestion in surrounding residential streets.

Following the introduction of the meters, in recent weeks a public consultation was announced to assess public mood over plans to close the beach-front road altogether to pave the way for the new development, and move it adjacent to the Royal Military Canal.

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