Park for free for Christmas

Medway Council is once again offering shoppers in Medway free parking for the festive period.

Unlike last year, the free parking days are allocated logically on four consecutive days to encourage residents and visitors to use local high streets to grab those last minute presents.

Free parking is available from 10am until 7am the following day from Monday to Thursday next week (19 to 22 December). Parking outside of those times will be at the normal rate.

The Saturday park-and-ride will also continue to run for free from Horsted (opposite the former MidKent College premises) to Rochester and Chatham. The first bus leaves at 8.36am, and stops in Rochester High Street near Star Hill, and then at the Waterfront Bus Station, Chatham. Buses leave Horsted every 12 to 15 minutes throughout the day, and the last bus returns from Chatham at 5.40pm.

Councillor Phil Filmer, the Portfolio Holder for Front Line Services said “Medway offers a great range of unique independent shops as well as popular high street stores. We hope the free parking days, and the park and ride, will help people to enjoy what’s on offer here without having to travel out of town and run up extra fuel bills.

“December is also the busiest time of the year for retailers, so we hope these incentives will give them a boost by encouraging shoppers to stay in Medway and shop locally this Christmas.”