A new resident parking zone could be coming to the southern end of Hollingdean after a public consultation – but the decision is not expected to be made in public.
Brighton and Hove City Council said that this was because the cost would be less than £1 million and the decision would not have a significant effect on communities in two or more wards.
This is despite the consequences for all who drive to the affected streets from outside the ward for work or social reasons who may find it harder to park if restrictions are brought in.
The outcome of the latest public consultation has yet to be formally reported but appears to be different on each side of the roads that make up The Dip – Hollingbury Crescent, Hollingbury Place and The Crossway.
Those to the north appear to want to keep things as they are, without any extra parking restrictions, while those south of The Dip favour a permit parking zone.
Hollingdean is one of a shrinking number of areas in Brighton and Hove not to be covered by a permit parking scheme.
And residents felt the effects immediately when the council created zone U, covering the Bear Road and Coombe Road area, because many more drivers started to park in Hollingdean instead.
The council carried out separate consultations with people south and north of The Dip in February and March this year.
More than 1,000 people responded to the consultation south of The Dip and 603 in the area to the north.
It followed two other consultations in recent years. The first was in April 2022 when residents were asked if they wanted a full or light-touch parking scheme five or seven days a week. Most said: “No.”
The second, in May 2023, also rejected permit parking although people in the southern part of Hollingdean were keener than those living north of The Dip.
The consultation earlier this year followed a petition, presented to councillors in December 2023, when south Hollingdean residents asked for their own consultation.
When the petition went before the now-defunct Transport and Sustainability Committee, one anonymous commenter described receiving verbal and physical abuse from non-residents fighting over parking spaces.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and parking, said: “The results of this consultation are currently being reviewed and on completion will be shared publicly alongside recommendations.
“The early indication, however, is that south Hollingdean residents are broadly in support of a parking scheme and north Hollingdean residents are broadly in support of no change to parking restrictions.
“We really value this feedback from our residents. We are working to ensure the finalised recommendations as much as possible balance and reflect the views of everyone who has taken the time to share them with us.
“The steer we have received from residents is being used to help us develop a detailed design for parking in Hollingdean which ensures we responded to local needs and deliver a scheme which works well for everyone, including local residents, businesses and visitors.
“Once the feedback has been fully assessed and recommendations finalised, we will share further details and plans to implement a scheme in south Hollingdean with local councillors and the community.”
The council has confirmed the results will appear on the council’s website.
Labour doesn’t seem to base its decisions on what’s right for the public or what genuinely serves residents’ interests. Instead, they launch expensive consultations and then blame the public when their policies fail. They often ignore the advice of civil servants and experts, which has led to the current mess of parking controls across the city—confusing, inconsistent, and unfair, a complete failure and a complete mess. They operate like the most extreme populists: holding secretive meetings, eroding democracy, deflecting blame, and misleading the public.
All you’ve mentioned that is not happening is actually happening.
Permit zones are a scam. With each new one, the free parkers move further out, thus hoodwinking residents into thinking they need their own one. Why should people have to pay to park on their own street? I’ve had to shell out £41.25 for 10 permits, just so my sister doesn’t have to shell out £6.75 every time she comes to visit. I’ve also got a builder coming next month, so he’ll need to park outside, so I have no choice. I wouldn’t mind so much, but I’m already pay a fortune in council tax & since the machines stopped working, you have to pay an app fee, on top of the parking charges; it’s not even central it’s a mile out of the city centre. I know councils are stretched, but this is basically extortion by stealth.
Thats what has happened to South Hollingdean , push push the zones out of the centre of Brighton until the issue is on our doorstep. We have suffered terribly over the last 3-4 years with children being run over due to parking on the verges and pavements and drivers unable to see around corners , just look at the disaster that happened on Davey drive, where the buses could not get through leaving passengers stranded and this went on for several months until the council put double yellow lines in. where i am in Hollingdean now out of the 38 parking spaces , over 30 are taken by people who dont live here , with 2 cars not moving since before christmas as the still have the Christmas bus flyers on them. I have a drive so it does not bother me but my neighbours are absolutely drained from it all , the time wasting , the abuse and yes there is a lot, one of my neighbours came out to clean his car out and a car sat behind on the road thinking he was going to move and he was threatened with violence if he didnt , enough is enough now and i fully suppoet the parking restrictions for my neighbours and our local children and that should be a good enough reason if anything
A very minor point: the result of the 2022 consultation was not a no as claimed in this article. The results (across the entire Hollingdean area) showed 61.4% in favour of a scheme, 52.3% of which wanted a full scheme, and 60.4% of which wanted a scheme that covered seven days a week. The results are still available on the council website.
That is 61.4% of the small number of people who responded… so the actual percentage is clearly smaller than that.
Approximately 60% of council income is spent on their own wages and their golden pensions.
Why can’t they just empty the bins cut the grass and stop meddling?
Not accurate. BHCC spends around 28% of its budget on staff wages and pensions, and that includes everyone from bin crews and care workers to social workers and school staff. A large bulk of the budget goes to things like adult social care, children’s services, housing support, and public health.
Some regulations to stop motorists from in and out the city using the neighbourhood as a car park would be nice, I’m in favour.
I just hope there is an equal improvement in public transport service in Hollingdean to go alongside this as the current 50 service isn’t fantastic.
Most residents are looking forward to the new resident parking permits. It is tricky to park in Hollingdean now, too many vehicles from outside the area including vans park locally and some households own 3 cars and only ever use one.
The problem is people out of area leaving cars for weeks and even months.
Simple solution is to have a small window of control between 8pm and 10pm, this would deter vehicle dumping for weeks and weeks, but would allow people to park during the day when resident are out , for example workers from the council depot.
That’s basically a light-touch scheme!