Car park visits in two Kent coastal towns have dropped by more than 30,000 since “eye-watering” fee hikes were imposed last year.

New figures reveal a slump across sites in Whitstable and Herne Bay following the decision to increase hourly rates to as much as £3.70 in April.

At the same time, Canterbury City Council (CCC) has raked in an extra £2.1 million from car parks across the district.

Worried traders on the coast fear visitors are being driven away by what are Kent’s most expensive tariffs.

But CCC says other factors, including poor weather last summer, have played a part in the falling numbers.

Shop boss Justine Setterfield says she will not renew her lease at Whitstable Harbour Gin because of the authority’s treatment of the town.

“It's just the council lining their own pockets at the expense of the retailers and the businesses,” she said.

“When we first came here, the car parks seemed to be full all the time – people would almost have problems parking.

“Nowadays, I can walk in quite a lot of mornings and they're half empty. By increasing the costs, you're actually decreasing the number of cars that are using them.

“For people in Kent, there are a lot of other places they can go where the parking isn't £3.70 an hour. It’s extortionate.”

The new charges were introduced across the district on April 1 in a move CCC said was designed to simplify choice for motorists.

It saw car parks split into five bands, with the busiest sites placed in the top tier and hit with a premium fee of £3.70 an hour. For two Whitstable sites - Gorrell Tank and Keams Yard - this meant an increase of up to £2.10.

In Herne Bay, the most popular car parks, including Neptune on the seafront, were placed in Band Two with an hourly rate of £2.70 - a jump of up to £1.20.

Both towns were also stripped of free parking, with a morning concession axed in Middle Wall, Whitstable, and an evening discount scrapped in William Street, Herne Bay.

In the 10 months that followed, ‘parking acts’ in Whitstable fell by 6,855 and in Herne Bay by 24,036 - a 5% drop on the coast.

Across the same period, CCC generated £10,858,160 from its car parks - £2,101,661 more than the year before.

Coastal car parks accounted for £365,429 of the extra revenue, with the rest raised in Canterbury.

David Cain, who has run Cain’s Amusements on Herne Bay seafront for 47 years, has pleaded with the council to consider the needs of businesses.

He told KentOnline: “I’m sure it’s affected the town; if you look at somewhere like Mortimer Street, people are struggling there.

“When things get tough, we should reduce the prices to get people here, not put the prices up.

“Sometimes, we need help – we don't need a kick in the teeth.”

Meanwhile, Canterbury also saw car park usage fall, with 23,804 fewer visits to city centre sites.

However, the number of people using Park and Ride was up by 49,662 following the reopening of the Sturry Road site in April.

The city car parks recording the biggest drops were the two sites bumped into the premium band, with Whitefriars multi-storey down by 39,745 (14%) and Pound Lane by 12,651 (11%).

Two more sites - North Lane and Castle Row - will be added to the premium tier next month, although the hourly rate for Band One has been frozen at £3.70 following a backlash against a proposed 10p rise.

Almost all other car parks in the district will see no change in price, with a handful - including the Riverside complex in Canterbury - actually seeing charges drop.

School Lane car park in Herne - where visits fell by 36% after a £2.20 daily rate was replaced with a £1.90 hourly charge - will also see fees slashed to £1.60 for 24 hours.

Asked to respond to the latest figures, a city council spokesman said: "We monitor parking activity across the district very closely to see what's working well and where we can tweak things, and every year we put forward proposals as part of the budget process that we consult the public on.

"This process often results in changes where we have listened and adapted our plans, such as with the recent decisions on School Lane in Herne and charges at top tier car parks in Canterbury.

"We also regularly report on parking performance to councillors where we examine some of the trends and parking activity in more detail.

"Parking in the coastal towns was discussed at the recent Scrutiny meeting where a number of potential reasons were given for a decrease in the use of car parks.

"These included a significant impact from poor weather last summer, the loss of some capacity in Herne Bay and people switching car parks following tariff changes last year.

"There will be no significant changes to parking arrangements on the coast for the forthcoming financial year, and obviously it is too early to predict what might happen in the coming 12 months.

"We will continue to keep a close eye on the situation and consider whether any changes are needed based on the actual evidence of what happens on the ground this summer."