Protests over high street parking charges

Gary Saunders (centre) says the revenue lost by local businesses outweighs the benefits of charging for parking

Shop owners in a Hampshire town have said a council's parking policy is turning the place into a "ghost town".

Over 100 business owners and residents gathered in Lymington on Monday to protest over a decision to install parking meters and cut free parking time to 20 minutes.

Gary Saunders, owner of Crystals of Lymington hardware store, said footfall was down 30% since the meters were introduced in 2022 describing the situation as "absolutely dreadful".

Hampshire County Council said they were introduced to address the issue of overstaying and it aimed to keep charges at "a modest level".

Residents are demanding the council remove the parking meters and increase free parking to one hour

Current charges

• One hour - £1.50

• Two hours - £3.10

• Maximum stay two hours

Mr Saunders, who was born and bred in Lymington, said the organisers of the protest have more than 7,500 signatures across two online petitions and a hand-written one.

One of the online petitions claims the parking charges "discourage people from stopping to shop or eat, burden residents and visitors with extra costs and damage the livelihood of small local businesses".

Mr Saunders told the BBC: "We've taken massive hits on our turnover and basically, people just don't like parking, they're staying away from Lymington.

"We want to get the message over to Hampshire County Council that their parking meters aren't working."

Resident Simon Windsor emailed the BBC to say: "The town's local business community is becoming a ghost town with many small businesses giving up and closing down every month."

The county council said the policy was introduced "to help increase the likelihood of being able to find a space by addressing the issue of overstaying in this popular area".