Brighton & Hove Parking Charges: Councillors Reverse Planned Hike

Parking charges will not quadruple in parts of Brighton and Hove after councillors agreed to reverse a budget decision.

Four parking zones were due to become high-tariff zones next Monday (17 July), having previously been low-tariff.

The move was overturned by the Labour-dominated Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee this afternoon (Thursday 13 July).

The committee, made up of senior councillors, voted to end moving zones C, H, J and N into the high-tariff bracket.

The eight Labour members backed keeping the wider 10 per cent parking charge increase that was agreed in February.

The charge for an hour in the four low-tariff parking zones will now go up from £1.40 to £1.50 instead of quadrupling to £5.60.

There was outrage when the parking charge increases went live on Brighton and Hove City Council’s website.

It showed increases ranging from 185 to 300 per cent in zones C, H, J and N – streets around the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Queen’s Park and Kemp Town, by London Road Station and in central Hove.

The council’s executive director for the economy, environment and culture Donna Chisholm said that the charges were advertised in April before appearing on the council website, ready to take effect on Monday 17 July.

Labour councillor Trevor Muten, who chairs the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, said that Labour and the Conservatives had voted against the increases earlier this year.

He said:

“There was no support for the Green Party decision to triple hourly car parking including around our hospital.

“This indiscriminate aggressive attack on NHS, care workers, outpatients, small businesses, residents and visitors is unacceptable.

“These are not cash cows to be milked again and again. Rather they are people who need to get around our city to live and work.”

Councillor Muten said that an NHS worker would have had to spend two hours’ pay on their parking if the increases had gone ahead.

He said that a long-term commonsense approach was needed for parking charges which would happen as part of a city-wide review.

Green group convenor Steve Davis said that he could not vote for the changes because he could not see how the council would make up the predicted £400,000 in lost income.

Councillor Davis asked if there was hard data on how many visitors arrive in Brighton and Hove by car rather than train.

Mrs Chilsholm said that she could provide the data – and the number arriving by car was “significant”.

Councillor Davis said:

“Labour voted for it. You could have had support from the Conservative group to vote this down. Of course, I support our NHS workers.

“This drastically undermines the £28 million investment in the bus service improvement plan.”

Conservative group leader Alistair McNair said that Labour voted for the budget in February, including increased parking charges.

Councillor McNair said:

“Since I’ve been a councillor, one of the number one complaints is parking fees have been astronomical.

“Many residents in Patcham and Hollingbury are tradespeople, scaffolders and painters. They will not go into the city.

“It should not have been a surprise to Labour that there was a huge outcry from residents about the shocking increases.”

Councillor McNair called for parking charges to remain at 2022 levels, with a full city-wide review while voting against all the recommendations before the committee.

Labour leader Bella Sankey said that a full city-wide review of parking charges was under way.

Councillor Sankey told the meeting:

“So flawed was the approach to parking by the last administration that we are not convinced that the projected income from these increased parking charges would have been realised.

“For the 2023-24 financial year, we already know an underachievement of £830,000 is forecast for parking. There was a £1 million shortfall last year.

“Which is why we’ve tasked officers with a whole new remodelling of our parking charges across the city.”

When councillors approved higher parking and permit charges in the budget in February, the increases were expected to generate an extra £3.15 million for the council.

But in May, the council’s parking services were generating less income than expected, with a shortfall of £830,000 forecast against a £45 million budget.

The shortfalls are the result of a reduced demand for permits and less on-street parking income.