Car parks in Bognor Regis should be free on Sundays say town councillors

At a meeting of the planning and licensing committee on Tuesday councillors also commented on the fact other towns had free parking on Sundays and questioned why charges were even higher for the peak visitor months of July and August.

Sandra Daniells said it was ‘disappointing’, particularly that Gloucester Road car park would be £10 for the day for those two months.

She had looked at charges in neighbouring areas like Portsmouth and said they didn’t change their charges seasonally.

“We are trying to encourage visitors back to the town,” she said and coming out of the pandemic was not the right time. “We want people to park in our car parks not on the streets.”

Gloucester Road was important for the beach and should have a flat rate from March to October, she said.

Wayne Smith said perhaps if they didn’t raise the charges more people would visit, raising more revenue for Arun.

Chairman Steve Goodheart said there were often ‘lone cars’ in the car parks on Sundays. “I can’t understand why our car parks aren’t free on Sundays – we are supposed to be encouraging visitors in,” he said.

Alison Sharples pointed out staff were paid to go round and check vehicles using the car parks on Sundays, which was an unnecessary cost.

The town council agreed to write to Arun for their comments to go before the cabinet.