Residents say they have been ignored by a South London council over drastic hikes in parking charges. Gia Borg-Darcy, 50, vowed to press ahead with her campaign urging Kingston Council to take action over steep increases in parking charges, which it rolled out in April.
Protestors descended on the council’s meeting at the Guildhall in July to voice their opposition to the hikes, which saw parking charges more than triple overnight in some parts of Kingston. The council debated a petition submitted by Gia at the meeting, which was signed by 1,198 residents and urged it to reconsider the “crippling” fees.
Credit: Charlotte Lillywhite/LDRS
Councillors pledged to carry out a retail parade parking study to assess how the hikes were affecting certain areas of the borough at the meeting, and what help it could give to businesses.
But Gia, who runs a tutoring business, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the council had not updated her on the promised study. She said her demands to introduce one-hour free parking or to agree on a more reasonable increase in parking charges, to ease pressures on residents and businesses, had not been met.
“There are options, but you’re choosing to ignore us and use us as a cash cow,” she said.
The council agreed to hike hourly parking charges in Kingston at its budget meeting for 2025/26 on February 27. The changes came into effect on April 11. There was widespread concern the council had failed to properly consult residents and businesses on the plans before bringing them in, which was raised at the meeting in July.
Independent councillor James Giles, leader of the opposition, accused the authority of slipping through the hikes by refusing to provide details of the new prices at the previous budget meeting. “The administration knew the rises would hit residents hard and did everything they could to avoid scrutiny,” he claimed.
Kingston Council told the LDRS it routinely reviewed fees and charges to make sure they were appropriate, and that it received no responses to the statutory notices it published before raising the charges. It said it was content the prices were in line with rates in other boroughs, and that it was common practice to have different charges across Kingston.
But residents said the steep disparity in parking charges was not fair and had left businesses feeling penalised. A two-hour stay in controlled parking zone S rose from 90p to £3, for example, and parking in roads such as Bellevue Road, Dawson Road, Denmark Road and Grove Crescent tripled from £1.10 to £3.30 an hour.
Charlotte Salaman, 60, runs The Wych Elm with her partner Michael Pearson, 57, and said they had been particularly impacted by the hikes, after working so hard as independent operators over 11 years to put the pub at the heart of the community. The hourly cost of parking outside the venue has tripled from £1.10 to £3.30, plus a 10p convenience fee.
Charlotte told the LDRS the pub had seen a dramatic drop in customers at lunch as a result, slashing their revenue, with parking bays that were once full now empty. She said it had become too expensive to park for many less mobile regulars, who relied on their car to access the pub.
The couple has made personal sacrifices to refund visitors for the first hour of parking between 12pm and 2.30pm on Wednesdays to Saturdays, but this comes at great cost on top of the high rent, rates and bills they already pay as a small hospitality business.
Charlotte has repeatedly asked the council for updates on its promised review of parking charges, as she said they needed either one-hour free parking or for the charges to be reduced to a more reasonable level, but she has still not heard back.
Her recent letter to councillors said: “Please show us some respect and give our customers some slack, review the situation, we need your action sooner than later.”
Residents raised other concerns about the council’s communication of the changes, particularly that it had not replaced signs to make the new prices clear to drivers.
David Coffler, 63, recently parked on New Malden High Street to take his wife to a café, as she was recovering from a hip operation, and left feeling “conned” as he was charged £3.10 for the hour rather than the £1.50 the sign stated.
“I just felt they were misleading people,” he said.
Credit: Gia Borg-Darcy
Gia said she felt the council was not prepared to properly listen to their concerns, while small businesses, self-employed people and those who relied on their car for daily activities, like herself as the mum of three neurodivergent children, bore the brunt of the increased charges. She said the extra fees had made Kingston less attractive to visit and to run a business.
Gia said: “Ultimately I’m working and I take great satisfaction in my tuition, but I’ve got three children. I have a family I need to take care of. I pay my taxes, I pay my National Insurance, I pay my council tax, so I don’t see why they shouldn’t be listening.”
