More than 5,000 people signed a petition demanding Bromley Council scrap the introduction of parking charges at Norman Park when the plans were revealed last week.
Karl Graham, who started the petition, said locals were worried that the fee would cause people to park on public roads in the surrounding area.
Liberal Democrat councillor Julie Ireland also claimed that charging would be “disastrous” for the Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletic Club, whose members use the car park, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Despite these concerns, last Wednesday (November 20) a majority of councillors on a Bromley scrutiny committee indicated that they supported the proposals to make the 266 free spaces in the car park chargeable.
A council officer report suggested that Bromley would earn around £35,000 annually from the parking levy, which would have been charged through the RingGo app.
But Cllr Nicholas Bennett, Bromley’s executive councillor for transport, has now confirmed to the News Shopper that the charges will not be implemented.
He said that this decision was taken after he was made aware of the “existence of a lease”, which is understood to relate to the nearby athletics club.
The exact terms of this lease have not been made public, but Cllr Bennett said that having read a copy of it, he had decided that “it would not be right to proceed with the proposal”.
He added: “As a public body we must always stand by any agreements that are made.”
