Town centre visitors will now get 30 minutes grace on all parking tickets bought from this weekend.

Councillors approved an urgent motion at last night's annual meeting of Swale council, following a campaign from KentOnline.

The temporary measure, which will be in place until September 30, is part of the authority's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was introduced as rules around distancing mean more queues are likely with businesses taking longer to serve customers.

There was concern the parking charges could discourage people from visiting Sheerness, Sittingbourne and Faversham town centres.

The council had originally insisted that its reserves could not be used to subsidise free car parking when traders complained about the emergency pedestrianisation of Sheerness High Street to make shopping safer during the coronavirus pandemic.

Leader Cllr Roger Truelove (Lab) said: "We are now going to let drivers have an extra half hour in our town centre car parks which will give them longer to look around the shops, visit a cafe and hopefully stay a bit longer.

"We'd love to have made it two hours but financially we just couldn't do it. We are already looking at being £4m down because of the coronavirus.

“Businesses in our town centres are helping residents to shop safely, which can often mean waiting for longer and queuing outside in order to do your banking or to go into shops, so we’ve pedestrianised high streets to keep everyone safe, but this also means that waiting times are longer.

“We want to take the pressure off so extending parking tickets by an extra 30 minutes allows for more flexibility. You no longer need to rush around to get the essential jobs done and can take your time, or even take a moment to get food and drink.

“Most importantly it helps everyone to stay safe, stay apart and stop the spread.”

Motorists still have to pay 50p but the 30 minutes will be extended to a full hour.

"Businesses in our town centres are helping residents to shop safely."

Enforcement officers will add an extra half-hour to the expiry time when checking tickets in windows and it will also be applied to users of the parking app, RingGo.

Officers warned in a report, added to the agenda at the last minute, the move would cost £96,000 in lost pay and display income and another £13,000 in a lack of fines.

It will use the a government grant, called the New Burdens funding, to pay for the concession.

A council spokesman confirmed Bourne Place's multi-storey car park will reopen on July 20 but the concession will not be applied there.

She added: "The parking concession will not apply to the multi-storey car park as this is a pay on return, barriered car park and such a concession cannot be applied."

The motion was proposed by Cllr Angela Harrison (Lab) and seconded by Cllr Nicholas Hampshire (Con).

At the meeting Cllr Hampshire said: "No longer can people be sure that they can get all they need to get done in our High Streets in 20 minutes if having to queue outside each store beforehand.

"This proposal overcomes that barrier.

"We have the opportunity to support our High Streets and encourage people to shop locally."

Speaking after the meeting he added: "I am delighted... the urgent item introducing an additional 30 minutes of parking free in Swale Borough Council-owned car parks passed with cross party support."

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