Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been lost from council income each month since lockdown measures were introduced.

Dartford council has lost out on close to £700,000 after car parks and leisure services shut, and the number of tickets being handed out plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Freedom of Information request revealed income loss from operations across the Dartford borough is currently estimated at £297,000 for April and £391,000 for May.

Of this, around £59,000 is being lost from parking income every month as nothing is coming in.

It follows a countywide trend caused by the suspension of services due to Covid-19.

Last month it was revealed Kent councils are losing at least £3 million of revenue every month due to the loss of parking fees.

Canterbury was among those seeing the biggest shortfall with £700,000 lost in parking fees whereas neighbouring borough Gravesham was among the smallest with £120,000 lost.

Civil enforcement officers in Gravesham have been offering advice to drivers in the meantime and only issuing penalty charge notices where vehicles have been causing obstructions.

However, parking charges were reintroduced across large parts of the county this month as lockdown measures were eased and cash-strapped authorities attempted to recoup losses.

Dartford council was among those to re-impose parking enforcement from last week but said it would only be issuing warning notices ahead of a phased return of fines on Monday, June 15.

It had to put the brakes on capital projects such as the Dartford Town Centre Improvement works, including Brewery Square which were delayed due to the suspension of construction activity during the pandemic.

The authority has been awarded £4.3m to create a new civic space linking the High Street with Central Park and to redevelop the adjoining Acacia development and car park.

Once opened, the new car park will offer direct access for vehicles through the existing Overy Liberty entrance and new pedestrian gates will lead straight on to Brewery Square.

The work has been timed to take place alongside the redevelopment of Lowfield Street and was scheduled to finish this summer with the rest of the project complete by spring 2021.

Council bosses say these long-term projects have now restarted but added it was too early to say what long-term impact Covid-19 will have on any particular service and the implications for budgeting.

In a statement they said: "The council is always keen to protect the services it provides to the public.

"The extent of costs and losses will depend how long measures stay in place for and the impact will depend on the extent of funding from national government."

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