Prospect of car-free zone in Brighton spurs parking campaigners to step up efforts
The prospect of a car-free city centre in Brighton has spurred parking campaigners to step up their efforts.
People living in the Surrenden area are responding to a parking consultation which ends tomorrow (Monday 17 February).
They fear that any moves to restrict cars in the centre of Brighton – or ban them altogether – could worsen their problems and turn their streets into an “unplanned car park”.
They said: “Since parking charges were introduced in neighbouring areas, 26 roads around Surrenden Road have become blighted by vans, caravans, lorries and cars parking nose to tail, in some cases for months on end.”
This had, they said, increased the dangers to the hundreds of children attending three local schools, restricted access to people’s homes and prevented families from parking near where they live.
Rynd Smith, one of the leaders of the Surrenden Area Parking Campaign, said: “If the city centre becomes car-free, it is clear that residential streets without parking controls and within walking distance or good public transport links of central Brighton would become primary targets for visitor parking.
“Life here, which is already intolerable, would become unbearable.”
The Surrenden Area Parking Campaign is urging residents to use their vote to support restrictions in the area.
Michael Edwards, another leader of the group, said: “We have been campaigning for five years and now have a chance to safeguard our streets, regain control of our neighbourhood and avoid becoming an unplanned car park in the future.”
A previous consultation by the council in 2015 proved inconclusive but residents said that what was an intolerable situation then has now worsened.
The new consultation invites residents to vote for either a full residential parking zone, a “light touch” scheme which restricts parking for short periods on five days or seven days a week or no scheme at all.
So far, the campaigners have leafleted more than 1,000 properties, updated a campaign website and used Facebook and Twitter to get their message over.
They are also reminding people that they have only one vote per household and that if a household makes multiple votes with different intentions, none of their votes will be counted – “a situation which the council does not properly explain on its website”, they said.
Mr Smith said: “We think the council needs to improve its consultation processes.
“The lack of a proper explanation on its website about how it counts households’ votes is undemocratic and unfair on residents who may have genuinely thought that everyone in the property has a vote.”
The council is expected to announce the result of the survey next month.
If the survey comes out in favour of parking restrictions, detailed proposals including the type and design of a scheme will be put to residents in the summer.
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We all know that the problem just gets pushed further out every time a new CPZ is introduced. What happens when all of Brighton and Hove is controlled with no Park and Ride system in place? Even leaving visitors out of the equation, there are lots of people who don’t really need a car to get to work, but there are also lots who do. It’s no use just ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away – or that a different council will have to deal with it.
proper park and ride at the junction of A23 and A27 with a new railway halt. Then car drivers can easily get into Brighton and onto the rail system without going into town.
this is absolutely the right idea that i fully support – it needs doing NOW
Permit parking schemes are just money making scheme concocted by the council. It’s doesn’t solve any problems with parking just pushes them on to the next area.
If the buses were cheaper more people would just get the bus into town. What about using the money they are going to spend on the latest hair brained road scheme to subsidise bus fares for locals? We could then leave our cars at home. The cost for a family to get to town on the bus encourages them to park as close as they can and walk in. Who can blame them?!
life here, in middle class suburbia where everyone has a driveway anyway, is intolerable?
get over your white privilege you vandals and pay to fix the legally parked vehicles you damaged
they voted against it just a few years back, let’s hope we wipe the smiles off of their faces by voting against again
Agree, you’ve certainly lost the moral high ground as soon as you break the law.
The latest hippy zone for motorhomes is Carven avenue above the Asda superstore