Kentish Express Ashford & District
Trader ‘positivity’ over free parking spaces for town
Almost 200 parking spaces are now free of charge in Tenterden as the town starts to bounce back from lockdown.
The town council says it has successfully freed up 180 spaces until the end of August.
Ashford Borough Council (ABC) has agreed to release the 140 parking bays at the leisure centre for all-day free parking, and almost 40 additional bays in the Station Road coach park with three hours free parking.
For the Station Road coach park, drivers can either order a free session via the Ringo app or obtain a coach ticket from machine to display in their vehicle.
The announcement comes just weeks after it was revealed ABC had raised parking charges across Ashford and Tenterden.
Paul Woodcock, owner of Woodcocks of Tenterden, said any measures the council took was good news.
He said: “I’m very positive about the free parking, I think anything like that is definitely a cause for positivity.
“Hopefully anyone who does come to the town will at least be encouraged to stay a few hours.”
A particular issue among shopkeepers are the barriers put up along the high street to help maintain social distancing.
Mr Woodcock, who has been in the town centre for 15 years, said: “I can’t help but feel the barriers make it seem like the high street is still closed.
“They were brought in when social distancing was two metres, but it’s down to one so why can’t they move or remove the barriers?”
David Bruton, of high street store County Clothes, agreed that the barriers were an issue.
He said: “People are still very cautious, and the barriers that they have put in front of the shops are hardly welcoming, it really looks like all of the shops are sort of fenced off.
“I frankly think they should make parking across the whole town free if they want to encourage people back into the high street.
“At the very least they could extend the current free spaces until the end of the year to help with the Christmas period.”
Cllr Callum Knowles (Con), who sits on both Tenterden Town Council and ABC, fronted the negotiations between the two bodies.
He said: “Tenterden asked, and Ashford listened.
“I’m particularly pleased because the new parking spaces will be really valuable in supporting those who work in Tenterden as well as visitors.”