I often visit Camber for a walk along the beach, and if you are able to get there early enough you can witness some truly amazing sunrises. If you’d rather visit Camber sands when the tourists have largely gone home then the evening sunsets are equally as spectacular and one of the advantages of parking at Broomhill Sands at Jurys Gap is that it's free.
The three main car parks in Camber are owned by Rother District Council and managed by Ringo, in addition there is a privately owned car park where you can park on a grassed field for £10 per day.
Returning to Broomhill Sands, the free car park there is owned by East Sussex County Council (ESCC), it was resurfaced before lockdown and is home to Camber Kite Surfing who occupy the far corner of the car park.
The car park has a height restriction barrier on the entrance which restricts taller vans and vehicles, there are spaces for 300 vehicles, but the area is unmarked (no bays) and this number of vehicles will only 'fit' if everyone parks properly and with consideration for others. So, in reality, full capacity is unlikely to be achieved unless parking is supervised, which costs money.
Also in the car park is a permanent / mobile fast-food eatery which also serves hot and cold drinks, it's not cheap but with no competition locally they have a captive audience.
Talking of captive audiences, the car park during the summer is absolutely packed to capacity, even out of season visitors still come to walk the sands throughout the year and come rain or shine there is always a good number of vehicles parked there.
I can't help feeling that ESCC are missing a trick. The enterprising locals who have the field have proved that visitors are willing to pay £10 to park for the day, nice work if you can get it! It begs the question why don’t ESCC do something similar on their carpark?
I’m no mathematician but if you utilise 250 of the available 300 spaces (ignoring 50 spaces for poor parking) and charged each vehicle just £5 for the day that works out at £1,250 each day. Assuming you park this number of vehicles for three days a week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) that’s £3,750 a week. If those three days run for the holiday season from the beginning of June to the end of August i.e. 13 x3=39 (for this year, 2022) that equates to £48,750. Can you see where I’m going with this...?
It may well be that there are sound and valid reasons why there is no parking charge at Broomhill Sands, there are also no toilet facilities at the car park which may have a bearing on this. I contacted East Sussex County Council to try and ascertain why the car park is free, their response was "Rother District Council are responsible for maintaining car parks in Camber. This would mean that unfortunately this enquiry would be best directed towards them".
The email went further by saying "For more information regarding the parking in Camber, please visit the following website https://www.rother.gov.uk/leisure-and-events/beaches-and-coastline/camber-sands/ or call Rother District Council on 01424 787000."
On a more positive note, I can highly recommend parking and enjoying the beach at Broomhill Sands. Admittedly the beach is a combination of sand and shingle/rocks and not as family friendly perhaps as closer into Camber itself but it's still a stunning beach, a lovely place to sit and cogitate and if you want to see magnificent sunrises and sunsets, look no further.
If a figure of around £50,000 can be generated for partial use of the car park during the tourist season alone what could the final figure be if the car park was a pay to park throughout the year, you do the maths!
When belts are tightening all round, when the government is putting the squeeze on county council spending budgets, when essential services are being cut left right and centre as available funds won't allow for them to continue then why are possible solutions seemingly being overlooked?
Call me old fashioned but I always remember my grandmother saying to me "never look a gift horse in the mouth" but isn't that what's happening here? If this car park is a slumbering golden goose, then perhaps it needs awakening and looking into now. If there is no plan to change its status then why hang onto it, why not sell it, realise some much-needed capital and let someone else invest in it to make it a profitable enterprise.
When you read about our swimming pool closing due essentially to lack of funding and then look around and see what potential there is to generate much needed funding then would a little joined up thinking make a difference?
