Sevenoaks Proposes Parking Charge Freeze, Weekend Fee for Gordon Road and End to Cash Payments

Sevenoaks District Council is proposing to freeze parking charges from April 2027, even as most other Kent councils are putting theirs up - but the same proposal also introduces a new weekend charge at one car park and phases out paying with cash.

The freeze would cover car parks, on-street parking, and parking season tickets, permits and vouchers, holding them at current rates to support businesses, residents and visitors through the cost of living. Benchmarking against other Kent councils shows most are raising charges by around 2.5% to cover inflation, which makes Sevenoaks the outlier here. The trade-off is a new daily charge for weekend parking at the Gordon Road car park in Sevenoaks, which currently doesn't charge at weekends, plus a phase-out of cash payments across the council's car parks - cash is now the least-used payment option, with 89% of parking payments already made by card or the MiPermit app.

The council says the money raised from Gordon Road's new weekend charge and the savings from no longer collecting and banking cash will help cover the rising cost of running car parks - power, business rates, insurance, maintenance, enforcement, CCTV and security, plus safety, drainage and lighting improvements. Cllr Irene Roy, the council's Cabinet Member for Cleaner and Greener, said: "Despite significant increases in our costs, we are proposing to freeze our current parking charges from April to support businesses, residents and visitors," while acknowledging the weekend charge at Gordon Road is part of "setting a balanced budget."

The council's Cleaner and Greener Committee recommended the proposals at its meeting on 1 October 2026. Cabinet will consider the recommendations on 20 October 2026, and if approved, the changes - the freeze, the Gordon Road weekend charge and the cash payment phase-out - would all take effect from 1 April 2027.

Source: Sevenoaks District Council