closed<\/a> by Swale council on April 1 as part of cost-cutting.<\/p>\nRetired couple Jed and Alicia Irvine, aged 59 and 64, were staying overnight on the beach with their two-year-old Fauve De Bretagne dog Hovey when they told us the \u201ccouncil is missing a trick\u201d by not having toilets there.<\/p>\n
They have lived in France for seven years but try to return to Sheppey, where Alicia grew up and lived for more than three decades, once a year.<\/p>\n
This time they came back for six weeks and found that charges had been introduced.<\/p>\n
The grandparents-of-seven use their motorhome to travel in France and use pitches across the country, which they say put the Shingle Bank offering to shame.<\/p>\n
![\"Alicia](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
Alicia and Jed Irvine with their dog Hovey were staying overnight on the Shingle Bank on Sheppey. Picture: Joe Crossley<\/p>\n
Jed, a former truck driver from Medway, said: \u201cWe never pay \u00a315 for a pitch. I think we have once and it had a swimming pool, showers, toilets and a launderette.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there are as many places that are free as there are where you have to pay.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere, there\u2019s nothing for anyone. You have the lovely view – you should attract people here and have amenities for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe council is missing a trick here. They could make some serious money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former NHS director Alicia added: \u201cYou have to go off to empty your loos and get rid of your grey waste (from showering and washing up).<\/p>\n
It’s been a year since overnight parking charges were introduced at the Shingle Bank by Swale council. Picture: Joe Crossley<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have sons who live on the Island, so we are lucky we can go and do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t know anyone living here, you couldn\u2019t do that, which isn\u2019t nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were here last, there was windsurfing and Ricky\u2019s Surfing Shack but that\u2019s closed now and no one seems to be windsurfing here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricky Wooding opened the Shack in 2007 but shut it last year due to declining trade after the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Ricky’s Surf Shack, opposite the Shingle Bank, closed last year. Picture: Joe Crossley<\/p>\n
When it was open, people could book lessons with him over weekends.<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old construction worker says he had been asking the council to install fresh water at the beach \u201cfor years\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t do it due to money and that\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all well and good saying let’s get a cafe or a sweet hut here, but unless the businesses can make money there\u2019s not much point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the cost of living, coastal areas like Sheppey are dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visitors to the Shingle Bank off Marine Parade say Swale council is “missing a trick” by not turning it into a tourist destination.\u00a0Picture: Barry Goodwin<\/p>\n
Some visitors have been left confused by the lack of options in the area.<\/p>\n
Yorkshire couple Steven and Judith Craven were looking for somewhere to have a coffee when they spoke to KentOnline.<\/p>\n
The grandparents-of-five were visiting to see family living on the Island and said they had visited the beach before.<\/p>\n
Judith, a 67-year-old retired retail worker, said: \u201cWe came in the winter one evening years ago, so it’s hard to judge whether it’s busier than then.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it is quieter than we were expecting it to be, considering it’s the school holidays. We do like it quiet though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steven Craven, from Yorkshire, was parked on the Shingle Bank beach. Picture: Joe Crossley<\/p>\n
Former landscape gardener Steven, 64, added: \u201cIf they had facilities, like a cafe near here, it would entice more people to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried the Sweet Hut for a coffee, but they were closed.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the charges were brought in, the council also installed CCTV and repaired the road surface at the entrance to Shingle Bank.<\/p>\n
Anyone who fails to pay the \u00a315 overnight charge faces a penalty charge notice of up to \u00a370.<\/p>\n
The local authority has been asked to provide details about how much income it has received from parking charges at both Shingle Bank and Shellness Road since last August.<\/p>\n
The council was approached several days ago but is yet to respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campervanners say a council needs to invest more in a seafront parking spot to make it worth paying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,192,189,191,229,194,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-722391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-human-interest","tag-isle-of-sheppey","tag-kent","tag-politics","tag-syndicate","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}