Ashford's free-after-3pm parking ends on 1 November, replaced by a £1 overnight charge. The free window at Elwick Place shrinks from 18 hours a day to one.

Free parking after 3pm at Elwick Place ends on 1 November. In its place comes a £1 flat charge for anything left in the car park overnight, and an extra hour of full-tariff charging in the afternoon.

Ashford Borough Council announced the change on 3 September and published the decision behind it a day later. The offer has run since 2019.

What the day looks like from 1 November

Right now the council charges at Elwick Place between 9am and 3pm and nothing at all outside those hours (Ashford Borough Council: Elwick Place Car Park). From 1 November the day splits three ways:

  • 08:00 to 09:00: free, which the council says is to stop early daytime users being caught by the overnight charge
  • 09:00 to 16:00: the standard stepped tariff, an hour longer than the current charging period
  • 16:00 to 08:00: a £1 flat rate, every night

Add those up and the free window at Elwick Place goes from 18 hours a day to one.

Two 24-hour bars comparing Elwick Place car park charges. Now: free from midnight to 9am, charged 9am to 3pm at the stepped tariff, free from 3pm to midnight, 18 free hours a day. From 1 November: £1 flat rate from midnight to 8am, free 8am to 9am, charged 9am to 4pm, £1 flat rate from 4pm to midnight, one free hour a day.

The stepped tariff itself is not changing. It runs £2.60 for up to two hours, £3.90 for up to three, £5.20 for up to four, £6.50 for up to five and £13.20 for anything longer. Elwick Place has 282 spaces, 14 disabled bays and eight electric vehicle charge points, and it reads number plates rather than windscreens.

The decision was taken in July and published this week

The council’s press release went out on 3 September. The decision record appeared on its committee system on 4 September, and it carries a date of decision of 14 July 2026 (Ashford Borough Council decision record).

Two lines in that record matter more than the rest. It is recorded as not a key decision, and as not subject to call in. That means no group of councillors can require it to be looked at again. The record lists exactly two alternative options considered: remove the concession, or do not.

The record names the Deputy Chief Executive as decision maker, and also says the decision was made “under delegated powers to the Director of Health and Wellbeing”. The named contact is Anthony Baldock, Director of Health and Wellbeing.

Why the council says it is doing this

The published reasoning is blunter than the press release. The concession, the record says, “is no longer delivering the intended benefits”, and is “predominantly being used by residents and visitors seeking to avoid parking charges elsewhere in the town centre, rather than by customers visiting Elwick Place businesses”. It also says the change is needed “to align with operational requirements associated with the incoming leisure operator and the new ANPR provider”.

Councillor Steve Campkin, Deputy Leader and portfolio holder for climate, environment and sustainability, put it more directly in the council’s announcement: “I’m sure this car park wasn’t designed to become a free overnight vehicle storage hub after 3pm.”

He also said the offer “was introduced as a temporary offer rather than a permanent one”, and that the extra income “will help support the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the parking service and contribute towards the council’s Medium Term Financial Plan” (Ashford Borough Council, 3 September 2026).

The council also points out that parking tariffs are reviewed every three years, that the last review was approved in July 2023 and took effect that October, and that charges across the borough are now due for further consideration. Elwick Place is the first result of that.

Two things that do not change

  • Cinema users keep four hours of free parking a day. The council says this continues for the new leisure and entertainment facilities due to open at Elwick Place.
  • Blue Badge holders keep up to three hours free, subject to the usual terms. That is in the decision record rather than the press release.

Where the free offer goes next is not clear

The council says the free-after-3pm deal moves somewhere else for six months. It has given two different answers about where.

The press release says it will apply at “the new interim surface level car park situated at the former Park Mall site once it is ready for use”, as free after 3pm Monday to Saturday and free all day Sunday. The decision record says the offer “will be moved to the new Edinburgh Road Car Park for 6 months when it opens”.

Neither site appears on the council’s current list of car parks in Ashford, and no opening date has been published for either. If you are relying on that replacement, it is worth watching the car parks in Ashford page rather than assuming it lands before 1 November.

What it means for you

If you park in town in the evening, the sum is simple. An evening out that costs nothing today costs £1 from 1 November, and it is a flat rate, so a quick trip and a long night cost the same.

If you leave a car overnight, that is the group the council is aiming at. £1 a night is £365 a year, which is still less than a season ticket, but it is no longer nothing.

If you finish work at 3.30pm, you now pay. The charging period runs to 4pm rather than 3pm, so an afternoon that used to end just inside the free window no longer does.

If you arrive before 9am, check the hour carefully. Free runs from 08:00 to 09:00 only. Arrive at 07:45 and you are inside the overnight charge.

If you are going to the cinema, nothing changes. The four hours of validated free parking stay.

Our parking in Ashford page lists every council car park in the borough with its tariff and its free periods, and we will update it when the new charges take effect.

Sources