Prime town centre parking spots have been grabbed by Maidstone council for its staff.

The council last month closed its offices in London Road and Tonbridge Road and moved to a new eco-friendly headquarters at Maidstone House, above the Mall Chequers shopping centre.

But now it has been revealed that the council has reserved the top two floors of the public car park above Somerfields supermarket in King Street for its own use on weekdays.

The move has angered Michael Reed of Boughton Monchelsea, who said that on several shopping visits to the town he has been unable to find a space in the car park, although there were empty bays in the council’s reserved area, which he wasn’t allowed to use.

Mr Reed said: “It’s all wrong. This car park offers gold-star parking now, since it was refurbished recently. The width of the bays has been expanded by reducing the number of spaces, which makes it much easier to park there and it’s become very popular.”

But Roger Adley, speaking for the council, said: “The King Street car park has 227 spaces, with 56 spaces on the top floor allocated to council workers.

“We need these because many of our workers have to use their cars during the day to get to and from appointments. So it makes sense to provide nearby parking so that they don’t waste time getting to and from their cars.

“We are not stopping other people from parking there because the King Street car park is rarely full, only in the lead-up to Christmas, and we won’t be using it for staff parking in November or December.”

Mr Reed said: “I accept that priority might be needed for key workers, but I doubt that amounts to 56 staff.”