Two options for 2027 parking charges: a 2.5% rise, or no rise but no cash at council machines and £5 weekend parking at Gordon Road. Councillors meet Thursday.
Drivers could lose the option to pay cash at every Sevenoaks District Council car park machine from April. The idea is one of two options for next year’s parking charges that councillors discuss on Thursday.
The other option is a 2.5% rise on all fees and charges. Either is meant to raise the £115,000 of extra parking income already assumed in the council’s budget for 2027/28. (Sevenoaks District Council, Annual Parking Management Review, Fees and Charges 2027/28)
The Cleaner & Greener Advisory Committee meets at 7pm on Thursday 1 October. Its views go to Cabinet, which makes the decision on 20 October.
Option 1: a 2.5% rise across the board
Officers say a 2.5% increase on all parking fees and charges could raise £115,000. The report says benchmarking shows most Kent councils, including the neighbouring ones, are raising charges by about that much.
Option 2: no rise, but no cash and a new weekend charge
The second option freezes every tariff. Instead, three changes from 1 April 2027 would raise an estimated £120,000 a year:
| Change | Estimated income a year |
|---|---|
| £5 a day at weekends at the Council Offices car park, off Gordon Road | £60,000 |
| Nine new spaces at Blighs car park, at the existing charges | £38,000 |
| Removing cash from all payment machines and ending cash collections | £22,000 |
The Council Offices car park has 146 spaces and is free on Saturdays and Sundays, from 7am to 7pm. When the council brought in Sunday charges at its other car parks in 2023, it said free weekend parking would stay here (Sevenoaks District Council, 13 October 2023). Blighs has 205 spaces now. (Annual Parking Report 2025/26, Appendix 1; Sevenoaks District Council, Council Offices car park)
The report says this option “would actively discourage town centre driving”. It also says ending free parking and cash collection supports the council’s climate change aims. It notes that charges already rose in 2026/27.
How many people still pay cash
Cash is now the least used way to pay. The council’s annual parking report for 2025/26 gives the split as:
- MiPermit (app, online or phone): 67%
- contactless card: 22%
- cash: 11%
The report says cash use “has continued to fall” through the year. Across the district there were 1,483,600 parking transactions in 2025, up 2% on the year before. (Sevenoaks District Council, Annual Parking Report 2025/26)
At 11%, roughly one payment in nine is still made in coins.
A cheaper rival near the station
The report also says the Bradbourne Road multi-storey has lost custom. Its usage was down 15% at the time of writing, and officers blame a new private car park.
Euro Car Parks opened 104 spaces at the one60 building in Hitchen Hatch Lane in 2026. The council report says this use “is subject to a planning review as the site may be in breach of planning permissions for a commercial car park”.
The two all-day weekday prices compare like this:
| Car park | 1 hour | All day, weekday |
|---|---|---|
| Bradbourne Road multi-storey (council) | £1.60 | £8.50 |
| one60, Hitchen Hatch Lane (Euro Car Parks) | £1.30 | £5.80 for 24 hours, or £4.80 for 8 hours |
Euro Car Parks also adds a 20p convenience fee for its payment system, the report says. Bradbourne has 420 spaces and is used mainly by commuters.
Officers want delegated power to cut Bradbourne’s all-day rate once the planning review is done, “to ensure competitiveness”. That is recommended alongside either option.
What the council makes from parking
The 2025/26 accounts in the annual report show the council’s car parks brought in £3,512,979 against £914,049 of costs. Enforcement, on street and in car parks, brought in £1,583,539 against £866,995.
The council issued 26,929 penalty charge notices in the year, and 18,735 of them, or 70%, were paid. The most common offence was parking in a car park without paying, with 12,502 tickets.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. No new charge could start before 1 April 2027, and Cabinet has not chosen an option.
- No formal consultation is required. The report says a change to fees and charges is not subject to statutory public consultation. Thursday’s committee is the public stage.
- Blue Badge holders still park free in all council car parks and on-street pay and display bays.
- If you pay cash, the MiPermit app, website and phone line already work in every council car park. Our guide to parking in Sevenoaks lists each car park’s MiPermit location number, and our page on free parking in Sevenoaks covers the places that charge nothing.
The meeting is in the Council Chamber, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, at 7pm on Thursday 1 October. (Cleaner & Greener Advisory Committee, 1 October 2026, agenda)
Sources
- Sevenoaks District Council, Cleaner & Greener Advisory Committee, 1 October 2026, agenda
- Annual Parking Management Review, Fees and Charges 2027/28
- Annual Parking Report 2025/26, covering report
- Annual Parking Report 2025/26, Appendix 1
- Sevenoaks District Council, Council freezes parking charges for the coming year, 13 October 2023
- Sevenoaks District Council, Council Offices car park off Gordon Road
Image: Blighs Car Park by Alex McGregor, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph. Photographed in 2013; signs and machines may since have changed.
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