East Suffolk Council turned down petition opposing parking hikes

A petition opposing hikes to parking charges across a district has been turned down by councillors.

Ben Llewellyn, director of Claremont Pier, in Lowestoft, launched the petition following last month's East Suffolk Council decision to increase charges and introduce new seasonal tariffs.

The petition, which reached close to 2,500 signatures, was discussed during Wednesday's full council meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Llewellyn said the council's actions were being negative toward the growth of the tourist economy and criticised the lack of consultation.

He suggested the council should reduce the price of underused car parks and only increase charges slightly for overused ones.

Mr Llewellyn said: "Things like this in full consultation would show how much of a negative impact this would have on not just me as a business but many other businesses on the seafront and also residents who rely on street parking."

During the meeting Cllr Caroline Topping, the leader, reiterated what she said last month after a successful challenge from opposition councillors in stating the council had learned.

She said: "We should've engaged better, we're learning a lesson from you — if we've got it wrong and people do not use those car parks, we will respond."

The formal challenge resulted in the initial proposals being amended by reducing the length of the seasonal charging period, exempting Felixstowe's Convalescent Hill and Manor Terrace car parks and reducing the overall seasonal rates by £2 for four and 10-hour periods.

Cllr Peter Byatt said it was not too late to go back on the decision and suggested suspending the seasonal charges until they could be reviewed further.

He said: "We would not have been in this position tonight, with this petition, if consultation had taken place — there's no shame in admitting you're wrong."

Addressing this, Cllr Tim Wilson, who proposed the hikes, said the council understood the concerns from residents and businesses but pointed to the 'catastrophic' impact of low funding on the authority's reserves.

He said: "Given that financial picture, think how impoverished our seaside towns would be, think how impoverished our tourist landscape would be if this council was forced to stop supporting those."

Cllr Wilson promised the council would continue to review the impacts of the hikes and would engage in any further changes.

According to council papers, the service was currently operating at a £1.2 million deficit, after significant increases between 2020 and 2024.

Cllr Wilson pointed out the extra money would be used to not only fund the service but also be invested into the infrastructure which surrounds it.

Recently, the council approved a £500,000 investment to replace pay and display machines reaching the end of their life, most having been in place for about 25 years.