Historic bowls club faces closure over ‘2,000pc increase in parking costs'
A historic bowls club faces closure over council plans to increase parking costs by 2,000 per cent.
Members of Eastbourne Parade Bowls Club currently receive a discount to use the council-run car park next door for £40 a year.
But now the council wants to remove this discount, pushing parking costs up to £840 – a 2,100pc rise.
The club, formed in 1897, has 70 members, with dozens saying they will no longer be able to play.
Gill Waters, the club secretary, called the plans 'catastrophic' and warned the club may have to close.
He added: 'For many members, their friends and social life is at the club and those who have been coming here for decades would no longer be able to afford to do so.
'I think the club could lose an untold number of members and, as we depend on annual membership fees to run the club, that would make running it impossible.'
Tom Spencer, the oldest member at 94, has been a member for 16 years and a bowls player for more than 30 years. He said the rising costs would be 'disastrous'.
'Quite frankly, the bowls club is my life,' he said. 'Without it, I simply don't know what I'd do. All my friends are here and it would be impossible on my modest pension to afford the parking.'
Mr Spencer added it would take two bus journeys to get to the club – and he wouldn't be able to carry his lawn bowls.
'It's very, very upsetting,' he said.
Long-time player Jim Stewart said: 'The enormous rise would simply make it unfeasible for me to carry on playing.'
Peter Hensman, the club captain, called the increased costs 'morally wrong', adding it was 'far too high'.
He said: 'It would make bowls far too expensive for the majority of members and would lead to many being forced to quit the club.
'Without members, the club would have to close, bringing to an end a long, long tradition. It would be a huge shame.'
The club has been bowling at their seafront home since 1904. The original clubhouse, with its thatched roof, was bombed and destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War.
A spokesman for Eastbourne borough council said: 'For nearly 30 years, the council has subsidised parking in council-owned car parks and other parking areas, but with the funding for public services in Eastbourne under the greatest financial pressures in living memory, a new permit system is required.'
Cllr Colin Swansborough, cabinet member for community spaces, said the council was having to 'make difficult decisions to ensure services can be maintained'.
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