This is the St John’s car park, Canterbury, after a bout of heavy rain.

The photo was taken by Monty Chisholm, of Kings Mews, Canterbury, and shows the place where the city council wants to put its planned visitor centre and coach park.

Mrs Chisholm, 79, said: “I don’t understand how the council can build a visitor centre underwater – it’s madness.”

The council is pressing ahead with turning the car park into a coach park and building a visitor centre. Money is allocated in the budget for the financial year 2009/10.

Council spokesman Rob Davies said: “The council recognises that the St John’s car park is in a flood risk area and this was given full consideration in the original planning application to relocate the coach park. The design of the proposed visitor centre takes this into account.

“The risk of flooding is generally only significant during winter when the number of coaches visiting the city is very low.

“We have checked our records since 2004, and this flooding is only the second significant flood in five years.

“If the new coach park floods, we should be able to manage the small number of coaches by using the coach drop-off in the city centre.”