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Sorry Gary , car parking charges are the easy hit when things go wrong. It is more fundimental than that. Dover & Deal's prices are cheaper in premium car parks than Canterbury, Thanet & currently the same as Shepway. We have a range of town centre car parks that are cheaper in different town centre locations. While other districts charge for 24hrs DDC car parks are only chargeable from 9am-6pm & are free, in general, on Sundays. The on street regime is different.The new half hour option is popular & costs people less than putting money in for an hour & getting no change. When people quote Westwood they should recognise the businesses on those complexes pay for free car parking in their rents to the property companies who own the sites. Both Canterbury & Westwood are struggling like our town centres.In Deal two car parks are managed by DDC on behalf of Sainsbury's & Somerfield's who set the pricing i.e. £2 in the case of Sainsbury. As you know I do know some thing about retail patterns in Deal. I have Cabinet colleagues who also know a great deal about High St. trading & the ebbs & flows of custom.You need to look further & identification of High St rents [e.g Martins in Deal rent doubled], uniform business rates, employment & insurance costs, weather,national chains [e.g.Woolworths, Dixon's/Curry's, Johnson & more ] trading results & recessionary effects are more relevant.You will be interested to know bus useage is up 5%-10%, offsetting car journeys.Free car parking does not solve the problem only allows business employees to fill up the spaces early & blocks free flow of customer traffic. Yes car parks look full but punters can't get there because of staff. Pretty perverse effect.We have taken action by freezing charges i.e. no increases for the next two years. The current car parking rates have been in force a year & are embedded in budgets.I could continue but Nigel is the expert on this & I can assure you he looks after the public's interests.We will work with traders on promotional activities & give free parking for co-ordinated events.Watty