‘Not the right time’ to increase Littlehampton parking charges

Arun District Council last put up prices at its town centre car parks in 2016 and in the seasonal car parks in 2018.

A further review has been carried out and modest increases had been put forward by officers.

However when these were put to cabinet members on Monday, they decided to withdraw the item.

Samantha Staniforth, cabinet member for neighbourhood services, argued it was not the right time to put charges up given that many businesses were still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.

She said: “After much discussion with my colleagues I do not feel this is the right time to introduce the increases in parking charges. Anyone who walks down the high streets will see empty shops appearing left, right and centre. You only have to look at that to see the financial issues and problems that are going on in our the high streets across the country at the moment.

“I really feel that we need to be supporting as much as possible not only our local businesses, but our residents as well.

“I feel that by increasing the charges at this time we are not doing the most we can to really help them. A lot of them are just hanging on there at the moment. They are doing their best with the footfall they are seeing and I feel that if we were to introduce these charges now that footfall could possibly fall even further.”

However she warned that they could still increase charges at some point, but told colleagues it was the right decision to ‘hold off’ for now.

The changes would have affected Littlehampton car parks at Manor House, Surrey Street, St Martins, Anchor Springs, West Green, East Green, Sea Road, The Wall, West Beach, and Banjo Road.

The council operates a two-hour free disc parking scheme in the St Martins, Anchor Springs and Manor House car parks, which is funded by the district, town council and traders.

The scheme has been extended to three hours for the rest of 2020 due to the pandemic to attract visitors into the town centres.

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