Summer is full of events but Brighton and Hove needs more to attract visitors in the winter months, Tory councillors said.
The Conservatives on Brighton and Hove City Council want the council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee to set up a task and finish group to boost the winter and Christmas economy to ensure tourists were attracted all year round.
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh poured cold water on the Conservatives’ motion at a meeting of the full council last Thursday (18 December).
She said that the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee already had a task and finish group planned to focus on the Christmas and winter night-time economy.
Councillors were also asked to note that Burning the Clocks, organised by community arts group Same Sky, was cancelled this year and that there was no Christmas market.
The biggest events occurred in the late spring and summer, the Tories said, referring to the Brighton Festival, Pride and the London to Brighton Bike Ride.
Conservative councillor Ivan Lyons said that Brighton and Hove was currently ranked ninth in the UK for visitors and spending and fared well as a seaside and cultural destination.
At the council meeting at Hove Town Hall, Councillor Lyons said that Brighton and Hove was a popular destination with London and international short break visitors but not for longer-stay tourists, compared with Bath or York.
Tourism generated £1.28 billion in economic value and supported 24,000 jobs, he said.
Councillor Lyons said: “There are no large winter or autumn events. The seafront development board members were announced in July but little has been heard from them and certainly nothing that I can recall about making Brighton and Hove a better winter and Christmas destination.
“Brighton’s Palace Pier boss warned earlier this year that the city needs more tourists and we cannot just assume visitors will turn up.
“When the boss of the pier says that Brighton and Hove has not worked as hard as destinations as Bath and York in making sure standards are as high as possible to encourage people to visit, surely we need to listen and take heed.”
He said that parking charges were too high and people tended to travel by car in the winter.
Fellow Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said that when she visited the pantomime at Woking, in Surrey, four hours of parking cost £3.50. The same duration in The Lanes car park cost £24.
She said that businesses in North Street, The Lanes and North Laine provided good Christmas decorations but she was disappointed by the display provided by Ikea, in Churchill Square.
Councillor Theobald said: “There is no Christmas tree in Palmeira Square, perhaps because of the restructuring of the gardens, but will there be one next year?
“Lighting the Christmas tree at Palmeira Square was a splendid occasion but Hove has practically no Christmas decorations.
“A few years ago, there were lights in George Street, but I expect that the traders can’t afford to contribute with all the extra costs on businesses introduced by the Labour government and the reduction of parking hours in the Tesco car park.”
Green councillor Pete West said businesses such as Gunn’s Florist were being harmed by Brexit customs charges and longer deliveries times.
Councillor West asked if the government wanted to kill off native businesses and have everything supplied by Amazon.
He said: “We agree with much of this motion but the last thing we need is to clog the city up with fumes as motorists seek subsidised parking.
“Labour and Tories foisted cheap Christmas parking in the city before. It was a costly folly that did more harm than good. The city should be incentivising more journeys by train and bus rather than squandering funds on subsidising parking.”
Labour councillor Birgit Miller, the council’s cabinet member for culture, heritage and tourism, said that a new location was being sought for the Royal Pavilion ice rink which was being displaced by works in the gardens.
She praised the businesses that supported the Brilliant Brighton lights and added that a Christmas market was being planned for December next year.
Councillor Miller said: “While it is true visitor numbers are still below pre-pandemic numbers, they are only about 137,000 lower, as opposed to the one million claimed.
“While it is true that there are no larger-scale winter outdoor events, such as the London to Brighton Bike Ride or Brighton Pride, this is the function of unpredictable winter weather rather than the lack of will from our administration.”
The Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee was asked to set up a task and finish group to focus on the winter and Christmas and night-time economy.
Brighton and Hove is not really a student city any more since both universities filled their campuses with additional overpriced student blocks in the expectation that all, around 60 percent international now, student money would be spent on campuses they would scarcely need or want to leave for three years, post-pandemic. So the student pound is largely gone from the city now, except for the hottest days on the beach to winkle them into town and the King and Queen somehow still managing to capture them.
To reinvent Brighton and Hove as a tourist resort would require scrapping anti-car measures, providing affordable parking – free at night – and cleaning up and looking after the city. Instead we have a council doing the exact opposite to what Brighton and Hove needs to thrive again. They even ignored Brighton Pier management protesting that VG3 would be a disaster for business. The opinons of local taxi companies which once held sway, also these days count for nothing. Surprise, surprise, Brighton Pier is now being sold and most new local businesses have lives scarcely longer than a butterfly.
The irony of Pete west bleating on about wasting money!! Public transport is expensive and people that can ride a bike tend not to do so in the wet windy miserable weather to carry their bags of shopping home. I parked in the car park next to Trafalgar street last week to do a small job and was charged £16!! Couple this with lack of interest in actually improving the town instead of using motorist and shoppers as cash cows for vanity projects and it’s not a surprise nothings getting better in Brighton. The greens cancelled the zombie walk which was soo popular that they said they couldn’t staff it. What bollocks. Volunteers would’ve kept this brilliant event alive and most people came down on the train!
So, Conservatives asked for something that was already happening?
They could make Park and Ride easier to use and cheaper
Clean up comes to mind, druggies and beggars at the forefront, I really like wandering around South of the station down to the Laines, but it’s not really a tourist orientated area, normal walk from Churchill centre then West, then up to Blatchington then down to the seafront lots to see, but getting a bit grubby over the last ca 10 years. Annoying feature is cars and vans deliveries or dump driving parked anywhere, tidy up maybe before aiming for more “tourists” ??
I can’t believe the Green councillor says we should prioritise trains and buses use in the winter. The trains are unbelievably expensive and the buses are filthy and incredibly unreliable. Parking is incredibly extortionate in town compared to other cities and the roads are in an absolutely shocking state in some parts of the city- despite the record amount of parking fines our city hands out (which the money is then supposed to be spend on the highway). People doing big Christmas shops can’t lug it all on their bicycle in the wind and rain.
Apart from the Laines, the city does not do Christmas well. Go to most other cities and they at least bother to have a proper tree, nice lights and have a nice enough Christmas market which is suitable for families and not just expensive tat being sold at stalls which are patrolled by drugged-up teenagers.