A petition has been launched after councillors voted to introduce parking charges at Mote Park in Maidstone from January.

The borough council made the decision on Monday, after hearing income generated would help maintain the park and hopefully retain its Green Flag status.

Visitors will be charged £1 for six hours, or £12 for longer – twice the rate of town centre car parks in a move to deter commuters – and there will also be a £40 annual permit.

Charges will begin at 10am and the park will open an hour earlier – at 8am – so early-morning joggers and dog-walkers will still be able to visit for free.

It is expected the fees will make net income of around £171,000 a year. Installing parking meters will cost £87,000.

Cllr Simon Ells (Ukip) supported the proposal, but was worried charges would increase over time. He was assured any increase would need councillors’ approval.

The council’s commercial projects manager Marcus Lawler said with repeated cuts in central government funding, the parks’ budget would be squeezed.

Maidstone Culture and Leisure, which runs the borough’s leisure assets, plans to improve Mote Park by replacing some of the tree stock, funding a permanent parks officer and hopes to provide a new cafe, but parking charges were the other side of the equation necessary to achieve that, he said.

The 460-acre park receives around 1m visitors a year, with around 385,000 arriving by car. Research suggests 42% come from outside the borough. An online survey of 5,000 people indicated 72% of borough residents would support a charge.

Cllr John Perry (Con) said: “I see it as a matter of survival for the park. This modest charge will help us to keep the park at its current high status.”

Cllr Fran Wilson (Lib Dem) voted against it and was “bitterly disappointed” residents in neighbouring roads, who were likely to suffer from extra parking displaced from the park, had not been consulted.

There will be free permits for volunteers of the Mote Park Fellowship and community groups.

View the petition online click here.