£30 parking charge at Camber Sands
Rother District Council’s cabinet has resolved to impose a flat fee of £30 per day for parking a car in the main car park at Camber Sands this summer – reducing to £15 for those who arrive after 3pm. Small parking areas further afield will charge less, but still at a higher rate than last year. At the Western car park, motorists will be able to pay hourly at £4 per hour or £20 for more than six hours.
The council will also be introducing weekly, monthly and three-month permits for off-street parking. An annual such permit currently costs in the region of £350, which is to be increased to £500.
There have been angry reactions amongst local visitors who see themselves and other less affluent beachgoers priced out by these charging levels. Many predict that the result will be a huge increase in illegal parking to the detriment of local villagers. A change.org petition (signed by around 800 signatories at the time of going to press) has been launched to challenge the council’s action.
A spokesperson for the council said that their aim was financial – “to get as much back into the council for the massive costs we have at Camber”. However, it must be assumed that there is also a deliberate policy to ration the number of families arriving by car. On sunny weekends last year the volume of traffic regularly overwhelmed the capacity of roads leading to the resort as well as parking facilities on arrival.
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