A plague of pavement parking on Madeira Terrace is being tackled with a “cunning plan” to stop drivers using it as an unofficial car park.
Ever since the road was reworked during lockdown, cars have been parking on the wide pavements outside The Gym and Soho House.
But now, on one short stretch, these cars are being ticketed because they’re behind a bus stop.
Complicated road rules mean traffic wardens can’t issue tickets to cars parked on pavements in most circumstances – but they can if the pavement is behind a bus stop.
The move has been welcomed by Derek Wright, who runs the Madeira Drive Development Facebook group, and who has been asking the council to do something about this for years now.
He said: “Thanks to all my nagging they have now cunningly qualified the drop off coach bay as a bus stop, meaning parking behind it is an offence and cars can be ticketed.
“Hopefully seeing a warden there will deter others.”
A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council clarified that the coach bay was always a bus stop, but it’s only recently that traffic wardens have started ticketing cars parked next to it.
He said: “There was a misunderstanding that it was a coach drop off space – where legally you can’t enforce on the pavement behind.
“But we have clarified with our enforcement contractor that they can enforce on the pavement behind the bus stop.”
Meanwhile, cars remain parked along the rest of the stretch, and there’s nothing the traffic wardens can do about it,.
While driving on the pavement is an offence, once the car is parked there, there are no grounds for ticketing.
The council has backed national plans to ban pavement parking, which is currently only outlawed in London, or in roads where a specific traffic regulation order has been passed.
The government has been saying it intends to tackle the issue, and even launched a consultation in 2020 – but the results have not yet been published and nothing more has yet been done.
The real problem here is that since the road has been made one way, as a result if the glorious, but often empty, cycle lane, cars crawl in a long queue going east looking for a space, which may not even exist. This results in huge congestion and pollution. Coaches get stuck, being unable to get past the cycle lane wands. If there is a space, you have to reverse into it, holding up traffic behind you. The whole thing is a pig’s ear – as you might expect from bhcc. How much parking revenue has been lost from Madeira Drive? How many tourists won’t come back after their parking experience? £11m budget deficit – the Council needs to get its act together
This question is being asked today at full council
The law needs a change as there should be no parking on pavements no matter how wide as VI pedestrians should not expect to find a car in front of them on a pavement
There is already plenty of legislation which can be used to punish footway parkers should that authorities choose to use it.
problem being they have to be caught in the act of driving on the footpath be fined.
They shouldn’t expect to find cycle lanes on pavements either.
Parking revenue has no bearing on the overall budget deficit; revenue from parking is ringfenced for other transport initiatives, including subsidised bus fares.
The ideal solution to the congestion and pollution in Madeira Drive is to block it from vehicle traffic altogether, and only open it on the festival days. There’s little point in redeveloping the arches to encourage small businesses, cafes, and foot traffic if there’s a line of cars spewing fumes all day.
The ideal solution is to remove the cycle lane.
The Council needs to balance the books, not wallow in dogma
As already explained, additional parking will not balance any books; any surplus from parking goes to subsidise public transport, not to the general account.
There is no need for traffics to be in Madeira Drive.
Welcome to the Green Cuckoo Land!
Actually disabled drivers do need access to madeira drive as its the closest place to park for the pier etc.
And lots of people visit in cars so why should they have to walk miles to get to the seafront.
Madeira drive has always had access to cars why should that be taken away because a vocal minority want it to.
A very good idea as they are not used by the so called people who use the car week days then moan about it at weekends
Very well said
Hmm, Parking revenue is ring fenced for other transport modes that part is correct.
You say loss of revenue has no bearing, well it has an impact on how much funding can be set aside for other projects.
Surplus from on-street parking for 2020 to 2021 was £15.2m.
After costs, the surplus for 2021/2022 was £20,567,296, this is an increase of 35.72%.
Reports from various articles including the Argus tells us around 135K is lost every month or £1.6million from the closure of MD and A259 alone and that’s before we look at normal parking bays around the town taken out by cycle hubs communal bins etc etc.
The annual increase to the free bus fare was £1m approx., running the various service’s see increases of around 3m p/a so an extra £4 million.
BHCC announced parking revenue down by £1.2 million already, so our profit margin is reducing all the time meaning less and less for other projects.
Saying it has no impact therefore, in my opinion isn’t factually correct.
It’s fine saying close the MD, but where’s the plan for alternative parking ?
That’s the catch 22. Visitors come but have nowhere to park so will go elsewhere and that impacts the high streets and the local economy etc and a second reason loss of parking has a impact.
You need to think of the bigger picture, yes we need to reduce vehicle use, but you have to provide alternatives that suit the majority not the loud minority who think the only solution is two wheels and pretty coloured paint everywhere.
There is plenty of parking already in the city for the high streets and local economy. Evidence from other cities that have converted streets from traffic to pedestrianised show that footfall actually increases with pedestrian-only areas, and once Madeira Drive is redeveloped this would be an outstanding location for pedestrians and promenading. Visitors for the beach can already park in the marina or the city and walk down. Disabled people that need closer access can be accommodated by turning more of the parking spaces along Marine Parade and the A259 into disabled-only spaces.
Okay so there’s plenty of parking, in your imagination only. How many times have we heard about the lack of parking in various articles over the last few years.
Okay other cities and towns that have been pedestrian only benefit from better transport links like park and ride and better infrastructure.
Yes, there is plenty of parking for able-bodied drivers within easy walking distance of high streets and the beach. I’ve just come from the London Road car park and it’s only half full. The complaints about lack of parking that you read mainly relate to on street residents parking, which is very limited and has nothing to do with being able to park or not on Madeira Drive.
John
You seem to have your head in the sand.
You foolishly tell us that local residents have issues with parking that you say is limited and that is correct. So if locals have problems with parking don’t you think visitors also face the same problem ?
You say there’s plenty of parking, well that’s just your opinion. Very often town centre car parks are full and queues of vehicles sit up West Street.
London Road isn’t really a high volume area for tourists and visitors is it, so the comment about the car park being half full isn’t relevant really.
They can park in the Marina multi storey car park
You clearly do not frequent the area if you think that cycle lane is often empty. Far more cyclists than cars use Madeira Drive despite having a fraction of the space dedicated to them.
When the restoration of the terraces finally happens, the remaining parking will definitely need a rethink as the area outgrows being a glorified car park.
Absolutely. The restoration plan moves the parking to the other side of the drive – who would want to sit in a cafe under the terraces and stare out at a row of cars, instead of a beach?
Remove the traffic and parking altogether is the only way forward.
video evidence would suggest otherwise. But why let facts get in the way of the cycling zealots ?
The Greens got booted out because they didn’t listen and ignored democracy. I’m afraid you’ll have to face the facts that now we have an administration that listens to residents and not the cycling lobby
I would be interested in seeing said video evidence, I’m guessing it would be from a rainy January day if it actually exists and you aren’t just making it up? My statement comes from my experience of visiting Madeira Drive about 4 times a week. It just doesn’t look busy to those used to roads clogged up with cars as bikes have a small footprint and don’t have congestion.
I’m sorry to inform you that Labour has come out in support of active travel with their manifesto, although some of their individual councillors do sound anti-active travel so we’ll see what happens. What’s more this cycle lane and other covid-era cycle lanes happened because of the Conservative government’s Emergency Active Travel Fund at the time. It does at least humour me to picture you fretting about some imagined group of cyclists pulling strings behind the scenes while nationally and more globally it’s the automotive and petroleum industries that have the real lobbying power resulting in the car focused world we live in.
Wasn’t ex Green councillor Jamie Lloyd, an employee of Sustrans?
And your username clearly shows your Fruitcake credentials!
You and some others on here obviously do not care about disabled people who want to visit the cafes, pier, beach etc and that can not walk far or at all. As it is there is not enough disabled parking down there especially when coaches park in the bays.
Why does everything now days have to be about cyclists and people walking. Why do drivers not matter at all to some people?
If you get rid of parking all together you will see a drop in custom to the businesses down there.
Oh and the cycle lane is bigger than the actual driving bit of road so cyclists need to stop moaning and saying they haven’t got anough room down there.
I’d be more than happy for more of the parking there to be turned into disabled only parking. If I remember correctly, the proposals for phase 1 of the terrace renovations are planning for a reduction in parking spaces, not a complete removal. Having the parking spaces that do remain be dedicated towards disabled parking sounds like a fantastic idea. The construction of the new lift should also make it easier for disabled people to park on Marine Parade and be able to access the area, which I find exciting.
The motorist straw man argument of needing car-centric city planning for the benefit of disabled people is tiresome. The majority of car users aren’t disabled, and a far lower percentage of people with a disability drive compared to people without a disability, as such many disabled people would disproportionately benefit from improved public transport infrastructure rather than a focus on the driver before all else. A reduction in car dependency also does not necessitate an inability for people with disabilities to drive into the city, in fact, it makes it easier for them by reducing congestion and competition for road space. Imagine how hard it would be to access the city as a disabled person if everyone in central Brighton owned a car?
From the other side of the fence, everything seems to be about people whining that they can’t rock up anywhere they please in their increasingly larger metal boxes in an increasingly cramped city. Over half of households in central Brighton and Kemptown do not own a car. Drivers have had half a century of infrastructure focused purely on their needs. If it wasn’t for this, the city could still have its tram network which would be ideal for enabling people to get to the pier if only it still existed.
The cycle lane is not larger than the road and parking combined, not even close. But I don’t think anyone’s proposing that an expansion of the cycle lane happens. The beauty of bikes is that they take very little space compared to cars.
The wider cycle lane is so that more than just two wheeled cyclists can use it , its for mobility scooters, 3 wheelers, cargo bikes and those rick shaw type bikes the carry old folk around . Any changes to MD parking would still allow Emergency Vehicles, trade people, deliveries and blue badge holders to have access
I’m sorry, complete rubbish and you need a visit to Specsavers.
First cyclist have a whole lane to themselves plus the whole of the widest pavement in Brighton.
Vehicles have one lane and with those stupid eyesore orange and white posts that makes it difficult for vehicles to reverse park into.
As for cyclists, I am down there most days and never seen more than handful at any one time and, despite all the expense, some still insist of using the pavement and not the cycle lane.
I think the objective was to deter people from driving to Madeira Drive at all?
To tell you the truth, most times when I cycle along it the road itself is empty – so should we get rid of the road?
You say the cycle lane is often empty. Man, the road itself is often empty. I cycle along there all the time and the road is largely empty, so maybe we should remove the road rather than the cycle lane.
My cunning les mounting the footpath. It would cost nothing, certainly worth trying plan is to place planters along the wall to deter vehicles from mounting
They would cost something but planters, with some nice plants in them, would certainly look better. Until they get covered with graffiti and filled up with litter, drink cans and bottles and then left that way with a load of dead plants too.
My cunning plan would be to implement a city wide fee for cars, reduce them from the roads, decrease pollution, improve all roads making them safe for cyclists, and turn any shops that go bust into housing.
Love it <3 please give us liveable cities!
And my next joke is…..?
Just like the charge’s have worked in London the roads are wonderfully quite and there is no traffic. NOT
Sounds like green agenda slap bang down the line.
Idealist idiot.. get in the real world
Bike fascist… Your agenda doesn’t suit everyone but like the green party you probably agree with you think imposing your ideals on every one else is the best way forward. We’re supposed to be a democracy and you believe you have liberal free ideas. That’s not the case if you think imposing your ideals on everyone else. I run one of the 1000s of small businesses in the city that would be unworkable without the internal combustion engine, which we’d all agree is far from ideal and we’d all love to see the back of but suggesting that we pay more money to use a car to discourage us from using our cars just won’t work. We’ve all got to agree to move forward and I’m sick of fools like you who think it’s solely your ideas that are the way forward… That’s a remarkably fascistic attitude towards the larger society as a whole. You will undoubtedly think I’m some sort of reactionary old fart or young Tory. That couldn’t be further from the truth… Your on dangerous territory suggesting imposing your particular ideals on everyone else. You see how people have now turn on the greens in this City because they rode rough shod over all the citizens of the city thinking they knew better than us, thinking that we’re so stupid that we don’t know what’s good for us.
Road policies that have created unhealthy pollution hotspots in the city not solved the problems. You don’t get people out of cars or achieve anything in this world by hitting them with a stick. We need real life practical solutions that we all think will work.
Your initial point was… Let’s just charge people to use their cars in B&H and they won’t use them. Well done you….you should be prime minister with policies like that or head of the National Socialist Party circa 1934 and start blaming ethnic groups for all the problems of the country. That’s where it all starts mate. Call yourself a socialist mate?? You don’t even know what one is.
Well said!
I have no political association’s but if you were ever to stand for election I would vote for you
Well said
You’re “sick of fools like you who think it’s solely your ideas that are the way forward” yet you provide no ideas yourself and only insults.
You seem nice, what’s your business so we can avoid it?
Yep, that is a sure way to destroy the city economy, I spent the first 25 years of my life in Hove and loved it. Wouldn’t go back now as there are more welcoming towns in Sussex, I have a disability M. S. Brighton does absolutely nothing to help disabled drivers with all the parking places given over to the gods in lycra. Let’s hope that now the greens have been kicked out there will be a more balanced view taken
Planters already exist, they were used to make the chicane
The new Labour Council seem to be taking a far more rational approach the Green Party shams. As a person with extremely limited mobility, I’ve felt personally attacked by the previous bunch of clowns. Are Councils not meant to listen to what the City wants and implement it? The abuse of power by this one trick pony has been staggering. So relieved we the Labour Party back.
My cunning plan would have been to never have widened the stupid things in the first place.
The many parking spaces along Madeira Drive should have been left in place and the money spent on practically unused useless bike lane better spent on something sensible .the stupid bike lane on sea front should also not have been implemented since the existing one was perfectly adequate .the additional bike lane added having reduced traffic to single lane causes congestion hence more pollution .Ditto idiot junction layout turning right off Steyne to North Laine area past Pavilion Gardens Pavilion since introduction cause of backed up traffic and pollution.Similar problem at turn going past Aldito Hove and London Road bus stops close to Aldi cause traffic to back up at Aldi traffic lights resulting in more pollution .The reworked system round the Steyne and the adjoining area must have been designed by some recidivist hippy or vindictive Green planner high on some herbal substance.
It’s not really idiotic is it? Complaints were that cyclist are riding fast along the sea front and then near misses as pedestrians inevitably walked into the home lane because they, pedestrians, were paying no attention not to mention that they had to cross the path to get to a crossing. The solution is to what, have a 10mph limit in cyclists? or to separate the pedestrians and cyclists. How dare the eat into the car users idk 80%+ space… Cyclist must cycle at 10mph so that cars can have parking spaces… Because the users are too lazy to walk from further away. Give me a break. It’s a solution to a problem. Less parking in that specific area is a price we have to pay to have a functioning bike network. It’s not idea. And before you start with the whole disabled angle obviously I’m in support of that. In fact let’s make all the spaces disabled and family access, how’s that?
Entitled cyclist alert!
Entitled motorist alert!
The cycle lane has give way to pedestrians signs and markings as contrary to popular belief pedestrians have priority even over the sacred cyclist. Maybe look next time you approach a pedestrian crossing
Pavement parking easily dealt with by setting steel posts in concrete at such a distance from each other that a car cannot get through.These would also protect pedestrians from occasional petrohead speed freaks who try to use Madeira Drive for their stupid antics though that has mostly been adressed by the remodelling of the road.
good idea
How would coaches unload and cars open their doors ? Unless you are saying put them in the way of pedestrians ?
Put some bollards on the pavements or some planters to block cars from accessing the pavement.
Having received a PCN many years ago for parking on a pavement with single yellow lines I was informed it was illegal to park on a lined highway from the centre of the road to the boundary of a property!. Has this rule been changed or was I suckered?
That still is the case. Yellow lines cover allt he highway they are on. Bus stops are different. But the rules did change with the inroduction of the traffic management act 2004.
No yellow lines with disabled bays , thats how they get away with it
maybe the council enforcement officers will do something about the many cars parked on double yellow lines in western road. The busses can barely use the route.
Madeira Drive is no longer a pleasant destination, and even on a motorcycle you can’t filter through the permanent traffic jam. It’s almost like they don’t want you to go there any more. So we won’t and we’ll take our money elsewhere.
Madeira Drive has never been a pleasant destination BECAUSE of all the cars.
Now that we have got rid of the Green cheats and liars, it’s time to put back Madeira Drive to what it was before. The majority of residents and businesses didn’t want a huge unused cycle lane – implemented by Green fascists ignoring due democratic process The Council cannot afford to lose money from parking revenue by pandering to a small number of zealots in the cycling lobby
It was voted on by the council, thats democratic
Hmm, you’re not that old then me thinks.
Madeira Drive used to be a great place to stroll when the terraces were open and all the little shops under the arches and Peter pans.
More like a bomb site now and those orange and white posts make the place look unpleasant.
put madeira drive back to how it was,absolute carnage down there now,any sane person can see its a pigs ear
Totally agree. “How it was”, back when it had small businesses and no cars. Far enough back to “how it was” for you?
Are the cars parked there such a problem? I’m
If you are blind, yes they can big a big problem, but obviously the picture shows a big BMW and like cyclists the rules don’t apply to them either. So if it isn’t illegal to park on the pavement only to drive on it I wonder, do the cars fly to park?
Yes it becomes more of a problem when the coaches stop to pick up/drop off
I am pretty sure that the council can not do this, I’m 99% sure that the land in question is owned by the aquarium
Council own the Aquarium land
Maybe if the green council hadn’t screwed the whole road up they wouldn’t park there. So many greens supporters on here saying it looks awful down there…. well I agree…. a big ugly green bit of road, orange and white bollards, queues of traffic caused by said ugly green bit of road.
Why are the green lovers and cyclists so against drivers and that includes ones who are disabled.
According to them we should discriminate against the disabled and basically tell them they are not allowed close access to the beach, cafes, pier etc because they shouldn’t be allowed to park close by. So according to these green people we should discriminate and turn against all drivers because they are so much more important than someone trying to have a nice day with a trip out in their car.
They are Gym Group customers to make it even worse
Come to Horsham w.Sussex . Trafalgar Road residents are allowed only one side of the to walk as on the other side is crammed with Parker’s leave about a 15inch gap for pedestrians no though for people with prams walking apparatus and partial sighted people. The council seem to condone this as we never see parking wardens. When will something be done Horsham Council?? You are to complacent.
Cringe.
Clarkson?