A historic bowls club established in 1897 is facing closure due to council plans to increase parking costs by a staggering 2,000 per cent.
Members of Eastbourne Parade Bowls Club currently pay £40 a year for discounted parking at the council-run car park adjacent to their club.
Eastbourne Borough Council now plans to remove this discount, which would see annual parking costs soar to £840. The 2,100 per cent increase threatens the future of the 127-year-old club.
Many of the 70 members have indicated they would no longer be able to afford to play if the changes go ahead.
The club dates back to 1897
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Club secretary Gill Waters has described the council’s plans as “catastrophic”.
“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,” Waters warned.
“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.”
The club has been bowling at their seafront home since 1904. Its original clubhouse, with its distinctive thatched roof, was bombed and destroyed by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.
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The adjacent car park to the bowls club
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Despite this setback, the club has continued to serve as a vital community hub for over a century. The proposed parking fee increase now poses a new existential threat to this historic institution.
Tom Spencer, the club’s oldest member at 94, said the rising costs would be “disastrous” for him personally.
“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.”
Spencer added that taking two bus journeys to reach the club would be impractical as he wouldn’t be able to carry his lawn bowls. “It’s very, very upsetting,” he said.
Long-time player Jim Stewart echoed these concerns: “The enormous rise would simply make it unfeasible for me to carry on playing.”
Club captain Peter Hensman called the increased costs “morally wrong” and “far too high.”
“It would make bowls far too expensive for the majority of members and would lead to many being forced to quit the club,” he warned. Without members the club would have to close bringing to an end a long, long tradition. It would be a huge shame,” Hensman added.
A spokesman for Eastbourne Borough Council defended the decision, citing unprecedented financial pressures.
They 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.”
Eastbourne Borough Council
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Councillor Colin Swansborough, cabinet member for Community Spaces, acknowledged the difficult position.
He said: “We are having to make difficult decisions to ensure services can be maintained.
“One measure is to bring parking arrangements in line with other councils, while also remaining fair to residents and sustainable for council finances.”