The National Archives at Kew want to introduce parking charges. The suggested charge of £7 for over 4 hours, in particular, is a big jump up from nothing. It's easy to exceed 4 hours, especially if there are document production delays.
I suppose cost management has become the dominant theme at Kew. Still, the proposals would inevitably inhibit visits at a time when use of this important national resource is already declining. Useful as on-line material may be, it is only by visiting archives that the greatest educational benefits can be had, through use of actual original documents, by handling and enjoying archives, and extending our knowledge of them. This enriches our lives and should be encouraged, and it seems a pity that it is precisely this aspect that would be made to suffer. It is unfortunate for the visitors if deterring them results in the biggest cost savings.
