1,000% increase

Councillors have approved plans for inflation-busting parking hikes across the district.

The sharp increases, due to come into force in April, will see some residents suffering a 1,000% rise in parking permits across a two-year period.

Car park users in the city and the district’s coastal towns will also be hit by extended charging hours.

There were 179 objections, but the changes, part of the council’s plan to collect almost £1m extra from motorists over three years, were voted through at a policy and resources committee meeting last week.

Lib Dem leader Michael Dixey told the meeting: “I do not have a huge problem with increasing parking charges for people coming into the city to shop or work, but I do have a big issue with the dramatic increase with residents’ permits.

“The charges are more than doubling or trebling in some cases over a period of four of five years. I have had some very upset people contacting me – someone was in tears in one case – as they cannot see how they can affor d to go on as they do.”

In Herne Bay, plans to start charging users of the Reculver Drive and Ocean View car parks in Beltinge for the first time were taken off the table.