Kent councils’ finances are more stretched than ever - and, in their latest budgets, many put up parking charges as a way of raising much-needed funds.

But while some have hiked rates to an eye-watering £3.70 an hour, other authorities are taking the opposite approach, as Dan Esson and Chloe Selvester report…

“A lot of the time if I’m meeting up with friends, and they’re from Ashford or Maidstone, I’ll probably go to them,” says Paul Lang, a 40-year-old property manager from Canterbury.

“They all moan about the prices because parking here is so expensive and such an issue for them.”

He was speaking to KentOnline at the council-owned Watling Street car park in Canterbury, where the new hourly rates of £3.70 are the most expensive in Kent.

It’s not just Mr Lang’s pals who have been put off by the high charges.

Kate Bohacz, a 42-year-old PHD researcher, said: “I try to avoid coming into the city centre at all costs.

“I think the hourly rate is ridiculous but there’s not many other options. People just don’t have a choice because there’s such limited parking.”

Meanwhile, Emma Dunster-Price, a horse-riding coach, said: “It is quite expensive, so I only come into Canterbury every now and then.”

City council bosses have previously insisted they had “no choice” but to raise the rates.

The local authority has the highest debt of any district council in Kent at £150 million.

Council leader Cllr Alan Baldock (Lab) told a meeting earlier this year: “We collect about £11 million or £12 million from car parking [annually], and it costs us about the same amount of money to service the debt that we have or thereabouts.”

The local authority is targeting seafront hotspots as well as the city centre, with rates in parts of Whitstable now falling under the ‘Band One’ ranking and rocketing from £1.60 to £3.70.

Opposition leader Cllr Rachel Carnac (Con) described the move as “cashing in on people enjoying our coastline”.

The council’s transport cabinet member Cllr Alex Ricketts (Lib Dem) told KentOnline this week: “The most expensive car parks are in high congestion areas and we hope the banding will encourage residents to choose less frequently used car parks and reduce the traffic to busy areas, at the same time potentially saving money.”

Counting the cost of coastal parking

The east Kent coastline is attracting more and more visitors - and day-trippers in some areas are facing a premium to park.

Ramsgate hosts the county’s second most expensive council-owned car parks.

Previously, the Pier Yard and Military Road sites - both located at the town’s royal harbour - were £3.30 for up to an hour from April to September, and £1.60 the rest of the year.

However, to raise an additional £118,000 over the 2024/25 financial year, Thanet District Council’s (TDC) Labour cabinet voted to hike the charges to £3.60 from April to September, and £1.80 during the other months.

A TDC spokesperson said: “Increases for some fees and charges were set to 5%, including most car parking at sites within the district. The increase in charges for other services, including those provided at the port and harbour, remained at 8%.”

Folkestone seafront is another magnet for tourists.

The car park at Lower Sandgate Road West, which runs from Radnor Cliff to the town’s popular Lower Leas coastal play area, now costs £3.60 an hour from April to the end of September, up 30p.

A spokesperson for the Green-run council says this is due to it becoming “extremely busy” during the summer months, causing major traffic build-up along the route.

They added: “The seasonal increase helps manage demand and actively encourages motorists to use other nearby car parks, all of which are a lot cheaper. This measure is just one of the ways we’re dealing with the congestion issues on behalf of residents.

“Maintaining the much-loved Lower Leas Coastal Park to the very high standards that residents and visitors have come to expect is costly – the Lower Sandgate Road West car park charges enables such work to be completed.”

However, Kent isn’t the costliest place to park on the coast. In Brighton, drivers face paying even more. At the city’s North Road car park, a two-hour stay will set you back £12.

The ‘common sense council’ with Kent’s cheapest car parks

At the other end of the scale is Dartford.

The Tory-run borough hosts the county’s cheapest car parks, with a flat fee of £1 for any stay of up to two hours.

While visitors to Canterbury are being deterred by the rocketing rates, here council bosses say they are keeping charges low to draw more people in.

A Dartford Borough Council spokesman said: “We’re a common sense council that manages finances well, which means we don’t see parking as an easy target for revenue.

“Instead, we set charges to help local businesses and encourage more shoppers.

“We know that most councils charge a lot more but we have decided that charging just £1 for up to two hours of parking is the right thing to do.

“We do review our fees and charges from time to time, but we have no intention of increasing parking fees in the immediate future.”

No changes were made to short-stay charges in Dartford this year, but any stay over four hours will now cost £5.50, up from £5, and season tickets will be £69 a month, up from £60.

Drivers going to Dartford should still be wary though. KentOnline previously revealed how more parking fines were issued in the town’s Market Street than anywhere else in the county.

Other councils are keeping rates fairly low too.

In Ashford, run by a coalition of Independents and Greens, most parking fees have gone up by 10p to £1.30 an hour. Meanwhile, Maidstone Borough Council is keeping charges unchanged for 2024/25 - with the steepest rates at £1.35 for an hour.

People power can make a difference

Some of Kent’s local authorities have attempted to put up the cost of parking - but have u-turned amid fierce backlash from residents.

Swale Borough Council’s coalition of Labour, Greens, Swale Independents and Lib Dems wanted to introduce fees at three car parks on Sheppey which are currently free - Little Oyster, Queenborough Library and Park Road.

But these plans were rejected at a meeting on March 6, to cheers and applause from the public gallery.

However, increases elsewhere on Sheppey, and in Faversham and Sittingbourne, were passed. From April, an hour’s stay at the borough’s bays between 7am and 10pm costs £1.40, up from £1.30.

On April 2, Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council (TMBC) voted to introduce charges of £1.20 for an hour at previously free car parks in Aylesford and Larkfield, “bringing them into line with the rest of the borough”.

However, after thousands of residents expressed their opposition to the Conservative-Independent coalition’s proposals, the authority altered its plans at a cabinet meeting on April 30.

They decided the first half-hour parking would be free on all days of the week, in the council’s six short-term car parks.

Several car parks across Tonbridge, such as Lower Castle Field, Angel East and Angel West, charge £1.40 for one hour.

In January, Labour-run Dover District Council (DDC) also backtracked on plans to begin charging £1.80 an hour at four free car parks in St Margaret’s Bay following a similar backlash.

Proposals to start charging at two other free car parks - Borrow Pit near Walmer Castle and Victoria Park in Deal - were also scrapped.

Across the Dover district, the cost at nine car parks has been raised by 20p - with the cheapest now £1.50 and the others £1.80.

What about the rest?

Across the Tunbridge Wells area, the borough council - now a Lib Dem majority but a Lib Dem-led coalition when the budget was set - is keeping most parking fees the same. It is also introducing discounted season tickets at the Royal Victoria Place car park since it acquired the shopping centre.

At Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s (TWBC) most expensive car parks - such as those at Town Hall Yard and Crescent Road - prices remain £2 for a stay of one hour.

Across all of the council-owned car parks in Medway, the most expensive are now £1.80 for an hour, a 50% increase from £1.20.

Traders claim footfall at Rainham Shopping Centre has plummeted since the increase in fees.

Cash-strapped Medway Council’s Labour administration anticipates the move will raise an extra £1 million over the next 12 months.