Will proposed parking charges drive people away from Bexhill?

I am absolutely horrified with the proposal to implement parking charges in Bexhill.

Having grown up in St Leonards during the 80s I watched parking charges destroy the small business along the Kings Road which now low and behold 30 years later as part of the regeneration they took the parking charges away!

Bexhill is a small town where people shop for convenience and little else.

The inconvenience of parking charges will just drive people to Eastbourne where the shops are bigger and let’s face it, better.

Parking charges will destroy Bexhill small shops for the next 30 years until the area becomes worthy of ‘regeneration’ because it is so bad.

This is town planning 101 and the council/county council are getting it wrong for a bit of short term money grabbing.

Go and walk in St Leonards where there are parking charges... empty. Bexhill – bustling!

My question to those making the decision in short is: what is the council expecting to earn (net profit) from the scheme and who did the research, (and how is the money gained possibly more than the economic loss that will be caused by businesses losing money from foot-fall)?