Most of Brighton and Hove’s car parks and parking meters will not put up their fares for 2017/18, the fourth year that most of the city’s parking charges have been frozen – although prices around the i360 are set to rise.
Despite little change in the amount Brighton and Hove City Council charges for parking, the amount raised has continued to rise by about 5% since 2011/12.
The council says that the current charges are still set at a rate which helps traffic management by reducing demand and achieving a turnover of spaces, so most prices will stay the same.
However, in Brunswick and Adelaide ward, parking meter prices will rise to the same levels as central Brighton to reduce visitor demand, and some visitor spaces will be turned into residents spaces so more permits can be released. Residents’ one-day visitor permits will be increased from £3 to £3.50.
And the Regency car park will see some charges increased by up to 25%, particularly for medium stays of two and four hours.
In a report to the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, which meets next week, executive director Ian Shurrock said: “Brunswick and Adelaide is a high demand area for visitors which has increased following the opening of the i360.
“Therefore, alongside changes at Regency Square Car Park, increases to the on street charges in this area would allow more parking flexibility for residents with a resident permit.
“This would also allow the council to release more Area M permits and reduce the waiting list (which was 272 in September 2016), which would be an added benefit to residents as the council receives a lot of complaints from residents about this issue.
“Officers have been undertaking some recent surveys and this section of the seafront (Fourth Avenue to Little Western Street) is underused for most of the day so it is anticipated that by changing this section from exclusive pay & display to shared parking with residents (with an increase of Area M permits) would be cost neutral.”
Meanwhile, most of the city’s street car parks will not see any rise in charges, with a few exceptions including Regency Square and Trafalgar Square, where some tariffs will rise by as much as 50%.
At London Road car park a seven-day tariff will be introduced which will reduce Saturday tariffs where there is low demand, and increase charges Monday to Friday when the car park operates at capacity.
Residents’ parking permits will remain at the same rate, although there will be various increases to business and trader permits at rates between 7.7% and 17.6%.
The cost of various other non-resident permits will be increased at rates between 4% and 20.2% to ensure demand of parking within controlled parking zones are reduced and ensure residents find it easier to find parking spaces.
The full list of proposed changes to parking charges can be found here.
I used the Regency Car Park recently and it was almost empty.I don’t know why part of it can’t bé used for a homeless Shelter at night.
So the regency car park has some charges going up by 25% and some up by 50%.
Good to see we are increasing by inflation.