Cost of parking to soar as Covid losses bite hard

Charges face 33% rise as council attempts to plug £9m hole

Parking charges are set to be hiked, public toilets closed and service fees increased as the cash-strapped city council battles to balance its books. The pandemic has left the authority needing to fill a £9 million black hole in its finances next year - with only half coming from its depleted reserves. So bosses are proposing a raft of what are likely to be unpopular cost-cutting and revenue-raising measures in a proposed new budget, due to be considered next week. Among them is a 33% increase in the hourly rate at the popular Watling Street and Queningate car parks, from £2.10 to £2.80, with smaller 30p increases at others such as Whitefriars, Pound Lane, St Radigund’s and Northgate.

The fee for Park and Ride would also rise by 50p to £4, with new seasonal charges introduced at a number of currently free locations on the coast, including at Hampton, Ocena Drive, Reculver Drive and Swalecliffe Avenue. Charges would be lowered by 30p an hour at the new Station Road West car park and the multi-storeys in Castle Street and Holman’s Meadow car park in an effort to encourage more drivers to use them.

Free parking for blue badge holders would also be slashed from three hours to two. Together the changes are estimated to raise an extra £470,000 a year.

Council leader Cllr Ben Fitter-harding says the ‘demand pricing’ structure will hopefully see more vehicles in underused car parks at the same time as generating more revenue from the most popular sites. Further revenue is to be raised through a 3% increase in charges for council services

across the board, like the hire of sports pitches, burials, museum entry and planning advice. The council is also proposing to close three of its 31 public toilets, although no locations have yet been identified. Further savings will be made on postponing some major capital projects, including the refurbishment of the Kingsmead Leisure Centre in Canterbury, the regeneration of Beach Street in Herne Bay and the planned revamp of St George’s Street in Canterbury.

Other proposed cost-cutting measures include reducing the councillor Opportunities Fund for a second year and allowing private operators to run the cafes at the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge and King’s Hall. Maintenance and repairs to nature reserves and amenity areas would also be cut back. The city council had already plugged an unexpected £12 million hole it in its 2020/21 finances with an emergency budget in

May by drawing on £7.5 million from its reserves.

But further savings are needed next year as the financial crisis has deepened, with Cllr Fitter-harding saying the authority faces its worst financial challenge in its history.

“As a second lockdown bites, we are in the middle of a perfect economic storm when it comes to the council’s finances,” he said. “The demand on our services is increasing but our income is falling.

“Now, more than ever, we need a comprehensive plan to balance the council’s books in 2021/22 and focus our increasingly-scarce resources on those who need us the most - our residents and our businesses.

“Our focus will be on delivering vital frontline services like waste collections, housing and helping rough sleepers while protecting the district by using our enforcement powers.

“This budget proposal sets us on course for a smaller, more efficient, council that is determined to deliver its services in the best possible way by putting its customers at its heart.” “And while the council needs to raise money to achieve its aims and be ambitious for the future, we recognise our very real role in helping to stimulate our economy with new offers and schemes to encourage the return of customers when the restrictions are lifted.” Among the fall in rent revenue from its property portfolio is the recently-acquired Whitefriars shopping centre, where the previously budgeted annual revenue of £8.2 million is now estimated to be £4 million.

The draft budget is due to be considered by the council’s policy committee on Wednesday, November 11. If approved, it will go out to public consultation before a final decision is made in February and the new charges introduced on April 1.

‘As a second lockdown bites, we are in the middle of a perfect economic storm when it comes to the council’s finances’

City council leader

Cllr Ben Fitter-harding

Prices will rise 33% in the busy Watling Street car park in Canterbury