Question:
Why has the council given up on Camber with regard to the car parking and toilet access. They are not even charging for using the New Lydd Road Carpark. People are going to the toilet outside and leaving the beach in a state. Either open the facilities and charge people for parking or close the road into Camber for non-residents. (20/05/2020)
Answer:
Thank you for your comments and we do sympathise and share your concerns. We wish people to be safe across the district, in Camber village and not forgetting our staff who are on the front line day after day.
The beach is a public place and so neither we nor the police are able to stop people coming to the beach, nor do the police have powers to close off roads other than in extreme situations such as a car crash.
In the first instance we are doing everything within our power to ask people not come to Camber and we do not wish to be seen to encourage large numbers of visitors by opening all the car parks and facilities.
However we know from previous experience they will still come, although we don’t know how many, and so we have decided to take steps to support local visitors by opening a Camber central car park and toilets only. However, once Central car park fills, it may then become necessary to open further parking spaces in order to ease traffic congestion on the roads. Car park charges have been reinstated
With the added complexity of COVID 19, the usual seasonal impact of visitors to the beach creates a more difficult situation that we are managing the best we can given the circumstances, and which we are reviewing on a regular basis along with our partner agencies that includes the police. (21/05/2020)
