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Free Parking In The Borough

Where can I park for free in Ashford?

Car Parks

Free car parks in Ashford
Car Park Free Parking
Edinburgh Road multi-storey Car Park, TN24 8LG Free after 3pm Monday-Saturday
Free all day Sunday
Elwick Place Car Park, TN23 1DY (cinema car park) Free after 3pm every day
Flour Mills Car Park, TN24 8PA Free on Sundays and Bank Holidays
Station Road Car Park, TN23 1PP Free after 3pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays

 

Free parking in Ashford map

On Street

Ashford town centre is a pedestrian area during weekdays and on Saturdays. There is an order preventing the movement of traffic within the zone during certain times. This is effected by the closure of a barrier on Bank Street. 

The central pedestrian zone includes the following roads:

  • Upper Bank Street;
  • High Street;
  • North Street;
  • Part of Park Street;

There is a no waiting restriction (yellow line) in place across this zone between 6am and 6pm, Monday-Saturday. Parking is free in marked bays outside of these hours.

  • New Street (access via Drum Lane, rather than Bank Street. The pedestrian zone is in operation here between 8.30am-4.30pm every day)

In all cases, please check with signs and/or markings when you park, as not all locations in these areas are available for general parking (e.g. taxi bays, double yellow lines, etc.).

Free evening parking in the town centre

We have introduced free evening parking in the Ashford town centre pedestrian zone. You now don't need to pay and display a ticket outside the period when the pedestrian zone is in place.

  • You can park for free in the marked parking bays in High Street, North Street and Bank Street after 6pm from Monday to Saturday. In addition, parking is free all day on Sundays. 
  • You can park for free in the marked parking bays in New Street after 4.30pm, on any day. 

Find a list of all council-owned car parks in Ashford and Tenterden. 

Where can I park for free in Tenterden

  • Free parking on Sunday and Bank Holidays at the Bridewell Lane car park in Tenterden (TN30 6EY);
  • Free parking for up to an hour is offered in marked bays along the length of Tenterden High Street. 

Free parking in Tenterden map

We hope this initiative will increase footfall in Tenterden and Ashford which will help boost trade for local businesses. This will also make our high streets an attractive option for new businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

+ Why isn’t free parking available on other days or other times?

Sundays, Bank Holidays and after 3pm are times that our car parks are quieter.

+ Why only these car parks?

These have been chosen on the basis that they are currently underutilised. Also some migration to the car parks that are free or cheaper will free up space in our most popular car parks making it easier for our customers to find a parking space.

+ Are you going to make any other improvements?

Absolutely we want to do more. We need to ensure that our towns have sufficient car parks in the future and we need to explore the use of systems such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition in any new car parks. This would make parking even more convenient for customers and has the potential to encourage longer stays in our town centres. Many of the existing parking payment terminals have already been replaced with modern pay machines. When fully functional these machines will accept payment by which accept by coins, as before, as well as by credit/debit card and ‘wave and pay’ contactless technology. All of our on-street and off-street parking locations across the borough are also served by the cashless parking service, 'RingGo'. To see which car parks in Ashford are run by Ashford Borough Council, please see our parking pages for Ashford or Tenterden.
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