Seafront parking consultation
Published
Wednesday 18 December, 2024
Updated
Wednesday 18 December, 2024
People are being asked to have their say on how Swale Borough Council manage overnight parking at Shingle Bank and Shellness on the Isle of Sheppey.
On Wednesday 11 December 2024 the Community and Leisure Committee discussed the issue of larger vehicles staying at the sites for prolonged periods of time and agreed some potential options to go out for public consultation.
The overnight parking and long stays have led to complaints from local people and visitors, who feel that the number of vehicles is having a negative impact on the area.
These complaints include concerns over litter, antisocial behaviour and lack of sanitary facilities.
Previously, the council installed width restrictions at Shingle Bank and bollards to stop people parking on the grass verge and other narrow areas at Shellness, which helped reduce the number of vehicles but, the problems have persisted.
Other measures have also been vandalised, such as metal posts that were installed to reinforce the width restriction at Shingle Bank, which were removed with an angle grinder.
A petition with 488 signatures was also presented to the Sheppey Area Committee asking for Shingle Bank to remain free and open for anyone to use.
To address the complaints, and try to find a long-term solution, the council is exploring the use of CCTV to dissuade vandalism and other anti-social behaviour in the area.
The options being proposed by the council for the two sites are to:
- keep the parking arrangements the same as now - free to use all times of the day
- introduce charges for certain periods, such as an overnight charge for all vehicles
- ban and restrict access to parking permanently during both the day and night
Read more about the options on the future of parking at Shingle Bank and Shellness and have your say here: https://swale.gov.uk/your-council/consultations/seafront-parking-consultation
Cllr Richard Palmer, chair of the Community and Leisure Committee, said:
“We have tried several ways to stop the misuse of these spaces, such as improving the surfacing of the area and introducing width restrictions, all at a great cost to the council.
“These measures did help reduce the amount of larger vehicles parking for longer periods of time, but sadly, they have just been vandalised allowing the vehicles to come back in.
“We are listening to our residents who, amongst other complaints, have felt threatened whilst visiting the beach and have had concerns over the litter being left in these areas.
“But we know there are also people who want the area to remain open and freely accessible, that is why we are asking you to have your say on how we manage the overnight parking in these spaces.
“We are conducting this consultation to help us make this decision - we know we won’t be able to make everyone happy, but we want to make sure we use the steer of our community in the final decisions.”
