Visitor Parking Permit Scheme Not Working, Say Brighton Residents

Thursday, 31 August 2023 08:53

By Sarah Booker-Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter

Visitor parking at St John's Mount in Brighton

Visitor parking permits for council blocks in Brighton have been seen advertised for sale on social media, according to a new report.

Brighton and Hove City Council makes free visitor parking permits available at its blocks but residents living in flats in or close to the centre of Brighton said that the scheme was not working.

A report to the council’s housing management panels – where tenants, leaseholders and councillors meet with housing officials – said that sales on social media had been reported but no action had been taken.

Now residents’ groups want the council to acknowledge that the scheme is not working and to find ways to resolve the problem.

One suggested calling a city-wide meeting to gather ideas about how to improve visitor parking schemes.

Each household in a council block with visitor spaces receives a reusable permit.

The council’s car parks and garages manager Benjamin Tedder said that most car parks did not include visitor bays.

Mr Tedder said:

“As the permits are reusable, the system is open to abuse by residents who sell their permits to other drivers.

“If abuse is reported to the housing customer service team, they will contact the resident who holds the permit to gauge the evidence of the reports and have the authority to cancel any permits that are demonstrably proven to be misused.

“Housing welcomes any suggestions from residents concerning changes to the visitor permit system and can perform further consultation on options to change the current system if there is agreement from residents of affected car parking areas.

“If residents of affected car parks feel that there should be consultation on changes to the visitor permit system, then this will be carried out.”

The central area housing panel is due to meet at the Barnard Centre, St John’s Mount, at 7pm on Tuesday 12 September.