Car park rise is a poor decision

We are very upset over the new car-parking charge increase in Hastings and St Leonards. The charge for an early evening out has more than doubled now in some places. Where we were paying £1 from 6pm to 8am we now have to wait until 9pm when it becomes free. I therefore have to pay £2 to park from 7pm to 9pm to attend an early evening weekly event. This all adds up monthly/annually. Many of us like to go to theatres, cinemas, choir rehearsals, etc, and now it costs £4.60 to park at Pelham car park in addition to the cost of theatre tickets, where it used to be just £1. It is an absolute outrage and we are very disappointed that the local and East Sussex County council have decided on this action. We are supposed to be a tourist town and this, combined with the closing of the public toilets, will kill it stone dead. It will also isolate large sectors of the community from going out in the evening and enjoying all that Hastings provides. Families wanting an early evening out, and charitable events will also suffer as people will think twice about venturing out. Some very poor decision making occurs in this town but this is a cynical and blatant attempt at yet another tax on motorists and does absolutely nothing to bring tourists here or allow residents to enjoy their own town. The council seem hell-bent on wasting money on dreams and schemes allegedly for tourists but then penalise people for parking here. Crazy. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1) Make our website your homepage at www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/ 2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hastingsobserver 3) Follow us on Twitter @HastingsObs 4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out! The Hastings Observer - always the first with your local news. Be part of it.