People who own vehicles with higher emissions will have to pay 25% more for resident, business and traders parking permits under new charges set to come in this April.
Brighton and Hove City Council officers have recommended that there is no increase for standard permits – but permits for vehicles with more than 166g/km will go up by 25%, while the threshold for a low emissions 50% reduction will drop from 110g/km to 100g/km.
A report will be considered by next Tuesday’s environment, transport and sustainability committee. It says: “Improving air quality is a key traffic management objective in Brighton and Hove.
“Nationally, poor air quality reduces average life expectancy in the UK by over six months and is responsible for approximately 40,000 premature deaths annually.
“In some parts of Brighton and Hove, levels of nitrogen oxides exceed legal limits. As part of a range of measures to improve air quality, such as the introduction of a Low Emission Zone, parking charges can help to encourage less polluting travel options and reduce emissions.”
Other changes include an increase in the cost of visitor permits. In zones M, Y and Z, the price will rise from £3.50 to £4.50.
In low tariff areas, the price will increase from £3 to £3.50.
However, most charges in the city council’s off street car parks will again be frozen, with a few exceptions. At Regency Square, the four hour and nine hour rates will go up by 8.3% and 11.1% respectively, and the nine hour rate at Norton Road will increase by 4% from £5 to £5.20.
It is proposed to increase the 4 hour tariff at the Lanes car park from £13 to £14 at a rate of 7.7%.
I tried to park as a visitor yesterday – PayByPhone did not work as the app just hung, then when I eventually found a working ticket machine I was faced with 4 hours max stay! Good luck to you all and enjoy your visitor-free utopia; I won’t be doing it again
When your local builder starts adding his parking costs along with rubbish disposal and skip licence and scaffold license to your bill you know who to thank.
or you could use a builder with a traders permit.
Brighton and Hove council are so greedy they have no shame in driving the city to the brink of financial ruin for the residents and visitors. Born and bred I have always loved living here but, i’m disgusted in what the city has turned into. People from out of town are already leaving because they can’t afford to live here and they wonder why visitor numbers are down. It makes me sick. I have been forced to rent a space in Hanover for work which they charge me £100 a month for yet don’t enforce it? If someone is in my space it’s tough? Yet the council are happy to rob me blind? Even sent me a nasty demand letter this week saying I owe £40 for a business charge they’ve made up and have never sent me a invoice for? Spent an hour on the phone to the rudest rep who couldn’t understand I was frustrated because i’m In financial difficulty? I am even comtemplaing leaving the city myself. Disgusted doesn’t even come to close to how I feel about them.
What if your car is only used three times a week say? Or if your car is old but the fact that it has been on the road for over 15 years far outweighs the amount of carbon produced by the manufacture of say, 15 new cars? Or the fact that this will mean those who are earning more and can afford a new car and therefore this charge with ease, won’t be affected whereas those with older cheaper vehicles who can’t afford the hike in prices suffer.
Who gets consulted on this? When and how do we have our say as residents?
A Traders permit is already £700 a year this is nothing but pure greed.
This council rob us at every opportunity. I was fined nearly £300 for recycling a box of documents from work. I only generate two recycling boxes of work paper a year, but they want me to pay for a recycling collection, so I have no alternative now but to take it home and burn it. Well, if that’s what the council want, I’ll do it, but I’d rather recycle.
I am seriously considering moving to Horsham.
I don’t work in Brighton anymore,it’s absurd.
I’m a heating engineer who would have to pay £700 a year to carryout 2-5 jobs,it’s ridiculous.
Where is this extra revenue going to be used? Do I just assume it is another way of using local residents, who need a car, as a cash-cow?
The Council are increasing all car parking charges regardless of emissions. How does that work??.
Granted, councils are feeling the pinch (merci Tory austerity) but I don’t follow the reasoning that a car emissions higher than an arbitrary threshold should be charged more for parking … that is, not moving, and not emitting CO2 at all. It appears that emissions banding has been changed partly to reward low emission vehicles but also to capture more revenue from folks with vehicles in the middle band. Who sanctions this actions? Always the stick; never enough carrot.
Many of us would no doubt like to switch to lower emission vehicles, to benefit from the lower parking permit charge. With much of the housing in Brighton without forecourts for charging a car via the domestic supply, and without pavement electric points, the eCar dream is not an option for most people. Low emission vehicles, as other comments above point out, require capital investment – great for those in a position to do so. I would gladly give up my car if public transport were up to the job of being a viable alternative i.e. buses and and trains. This would mean increasing the frequency of services, sensible timetables, such that passengers are not waiting for 20 minutes then 3 buses arrive at the same time, improving routes (particularly North Street and Churchill Square) reliability, and a reasonable fare – London Transport is a bargain, km for km cf. Brighton. Again, always the stick; never enough carrot.
I am sure my rantings have no effect whatsoever, so I’ll waste no more of my, or your time.