Residents unhappy with the proposals have also started a petition to get the Council to think again.
Last week the Times reported on how the new Borough Partnership at the Council is increasing the fees across its car parks and will introduce pay to park at Dunorlan Park.
The coalition want to charge £1 an hour, capped at £5 for all day, for cars at the two car parks.
But the Friends of Dunorlan Park (FoDP) claim there has been no consultation with the Council over the plans, and that charges could cause dangerous ‘overflow’ parking on local roads.
The charges had been presented as a chance to deter town-centre shoppers from using Dunorlan Park and included a commitment to ‘support the maintenance of the car park and the park itself’.
But FoDP chairman Peter Russell told the Times that the group had not been consulted, and there were many pitfalls to the parking policy.
“The Friends of Dunorlan Park are very concerned about this proposal at least in part because we have not been consulted and nor, it seems, have the members of the Council’s own Parks Department,” he said.
He added that there were already problems when drivers were unable to park.
“We already receive complaints about the dangerous situation when people park on the narrow Halls Hole Road and this will only become worse if charges are introduced,” he said.
“Similarly, overflow from the Pembury Road car park would tend to go onto the verges of Pembury Road itself.
“This is dangerous and unsightly and, when it has occurred once or twice before, we know from experience that neither the Council nor the police are interested in stopping this illegal parking.”
Meanwhile, on the state of the car parks themselves, Mr Russell noted that one of the car parks was ‘not properly surfaced and would surely need to be brought up to reasonable standard before charging could be introduced’.
He continued: “Dunorlan Park has been a lifeline to many individuals and families during lockdown and many people enjoy spending large amounts of time there.
“Not everyone can walk or cycle to Dunorlan and we feel that the present amount of quite limited parking should be free and restricted to genuine park users.
“The Friends think that these proposals have not been thought through and that no consultation has taken place. We have no confidence that any funds raised will directly benefit Dunorlan Park.”
A Change.org petition has also been created, urging the Cabinet and Council to ‘Keep Dunorlan Park free’.
Petition author and local resident Richard Harrington wrote: “The introduction of parking fees is being justified due to a tiny number of users who use the park to go into town,’ but denied this was a problem.”
The petition has already garnered more than 400 signatures as the Times went to press yesterday (Tuesday). If it reaches 500 signatures the petition will be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee who may hear evidence in public from a Senior Officer of the Council.
If it reaches 1,000 signatures, then TWBC’s Full Council will have to debate the proposals.
Charges for cars in Dunorlan Park are set to be introduced by October following a public consultation.
The move follows plans by Ashdown Forest to also charge for parking. The East Sussex beauty spot intends to introduce charges for its car parks from August.
