It's 8.30am on a Friday morning, and I'm standing in Third Avenue, Hove. Already cars are driving up and down the street, circling like vultures, their drivers looking for a space to park in a road that's close to full, so they can get to work. As local residents leave their spaces, the new arrivals take the opportunity to jump into these on-street free parking spots. Once parked up, the drivers often get on the bus to reach their actual destination. It's a ritual that involves thousands of motorists every weekday, all driving round in an effort to avoid having to pay for parking in one of Brighton & Hove's 21 car parks or short term pay and display zones.

The situation is getting critical. With an estimated 90,000 and rising cars coming into Brighton & Hove every day for work or shopping, it's no wonder parking is in short supply. Add to this the 60 per cent of city households that own a car, exacerbated by multi-occupancy dwellings, it can be impossible to park in your own road let alone find a space in town.

For those who don't want to pay, or who can't find a spot near to where they want to go, the past few years have seen many flouting regulations, by risking an overstay in the one-hour-or-more bays, or even parking for hours on single or double yellow lines. An under-resourced police force has meant only six wardens in Hove and thirty in Brighton - not enough to get to grips with the scale of the problem. The signs in Third Avenue actually say twenty-four hour limit no return within one hour, but who can enforce that?

From July 16 all this is set to change, as a controversial new parking regime is being imposed by the council which leaders claim will make parking fairer for all. Double the number of traffic wardens will be hitting the streets to implement stricter parking enforcement, and like Brighton, most of central Hove is being converted to residents' or pay and display zones, putting an end to the lawlessness that currently exists.

To implement the new scheme, the council have assumed new powers under the Road Traffic Act 1991 and have taken over responsibility for parking enforcement from the police. "The council have been dissatisfied with the level of enforcement for some time," says Graham Cox, superintendent in charge of Hove police, "but it's simply not been possible for us to make a difference with the resources we've got. Having said that, we have been trying to enforce the regulations more strongly, paying particular attention to bus stops, zigzag lines and flagrant obstruction of the main routes, and the number of parking tickets we've issued in the last six months has doubled."

In fact even with their small number of wardens, last year across the whole city the police issued 60,000 penalty notices. When the council subcontractors NCP take over in July, the number of fines looks set to rise, as they will double the number of parking attendants employed. These attendants will be patrolling streets by foot and moped across the city until midnight each day. On top of this, the cost of a penalty notice is doubling to £60. Council officers promise that this will not be a return to the tow-away mayhem of five years ago, but a "firm and fair system."

Similar schemes have been successfully adopted by several councils nation-wide. Camden council was one of the first and now collects about £21m annually. The scheme in Brighton is expected to be worth £2m annually to NCP, with any surpluses available to the council but ring-fenced for improving transport and related issues under the Road Traffic Act.

The big hope is that by enforcing parking more rigidly, the flow of traffic in Brighton & Hove will be freed up. "Clearly the situation has got worse in the city centre and we need to do something about it," says Ken Bodfish, leader of Brighton & Hove council.

The council believes that an improved flow of traffic and increased parking charges will encourage more people to use public transport. At the moment many consider the buses to be unreliable. "It takes nearly an hour to get to work by bus, whereas it takes ten minutes by car," confirms one motorist who drives from Lewes Road to Hove every day. The bus company blames unreliability on the parking problems: "People totally abuse parking restrictions and park anywhere at all. They double park, they block bus stops, they park opposite vehicles in narrow sections of road so that roads become almost impassable. We're looking forward to it being sorted so that we can provide a much more reliable and attractive bus service," says managing director of Brighton & Hove Bus company, Roger French.

Superintendent Cox concurs. "There are lots of us who live in the city that do not need to use our cars for short journeys. If we used the bus more, it would free up some space on the roads," he said.

The reaction from other quarters has been mixed. Council staff in Hove, who from now on will have to pay for parking, are planning a series of car-free days to show leaders how much they need their cars for work. And whilst many city centre businesses have welcomed the crackdown on parking, some are not totally convinced, and fear that the loss of thousands of illegal-but-used parking spaces will cause chaos. "Brighton's bus services are probably some of the best in the country, but it's not just local people that we need to cater for, it's people from further afield. There are too few options, they're not going to use trains and there's no park and ride to speak of. Until we start giving them an alternative, they're still going to use their cars," said one.

Shane Horn, 26, drives in from Crawley every day and parks in Third Avenue. "I work in Churchill Square and walk in from Hove. It's not too bad to find a space early in the morning, but if I come any later I end up having to park in the car park which costs £10 per day. When they bring in charges for parking I don't know what I'm going to do. I may park somewhere else. I'll definitely have to consider how it affects my earnings."

In spite of such comments councillor Bodfish is adamant that payment is not the issue, "Availability and sensible use of the spaces are the issues. The number of parking spaces being made available will meet the needs of the city and will encourage movement of vehicles. Clearly people will have to pay for this, we believe that our charges are reasonable, and that residents in particular will appreciate the ability to park," he said.
Many agree. Jeffrey Hibbert, an interior designer in his forties, is standing on the pavement in Second Avenue waiting for a lift. "Every street in Brighton should have residents parking permits. I'd be quite happy to pay £200 a year provided I could park outside my house. I live in Lewes Crescent, it used to be a nightmare because everyone from the hospital used to park there, they still do. Parking should be per house, and people would pay quite happily," he tells me. Not everyone agrees though, Susan Jones, a local artist says: "This is a rich person's point of view."

Yet views like Jeffrey Hibbert's have prompted the council to create 2,300 permit-only spaces and almost 2,000 pay and display spaces - 1,500 of which will be shared with permit holders - in central Hove. Annual permits costing up to £80 a year for residents and £160 for businesses, will be available to buy from centrally located parking shops, with application forms going out later this month. "The scheme has been carefully designed to meet the mix of parking needs in this busy and diverse area," a council spokesperson said.

However there are still many question marks. Will there be enough long-term spaces to cater for the needs of in-bound commuters and visitors? If not, where will they go? And despite council assurances that every eligible household will get a permit, will there will really be enough bays for residents? Paul Elgood is a local councillor for the Brunswick area where a similar scheme was introduced some months ago: "Brunswick is a hotbed of parking. Too many residents have cars and there are not enough spaces. Palmeira Square has an average of one or two spaces per block, which may have as many as ten or twelve flats in them. People don't mind having to pay for a permit, but if they're not being guaranteed a space…"

There is a similar fear amongst the business community, and emotions are already running high. Mark is a mechanic from a garage in Second Avenue. "This is going to put us out of business. They're charging god-knows-how-much for parking permits and we're only allowed two. We see six cars a day. We're going to have to pass it on to the customer somehow, that's going to lose business. All of the Hove garages are worried about it."

Keith Sanders, 42, is director of Eventer Design in Church Road, Hove. He is also pretty concerned. "The new scheme will be very difficult for us. A number of staff here have already been asking where they're going to park. Most drive to work from Worthing, Ditchling and Eastbourne. At the moment they park in the roads at the back of the building. We're only going to be allowed two permits for twenty staff. All of the businesses along Church Road have several staff and will be hit badly by this. This is the final nail in the coffin for us, we're looking to get out of central Hove."

Paul Elgood claims the council consulted local residents and businesses on this issue, but have ignored the outcome. The council disagree. "What will probably happen is that it will just shift the problems further up the road," says Keith Sanders who would rather everything remained as it was.

But councillor Bodfish is pragmatic: "There's never going to be enough spaces. You can't meet the demand, car ownership is increasing and in urban areas this is a continuing nightmare. Until we learn to be less dependent on the motor car there's always going to be a scramble for places. What we're trying to ensure is that there'll be some kind of parity, some fairness in finding those places, as there aren't enough spaces for everyone who wants them."

Ask around what others think should be done and the answer comes back that an overall transport solution is required, and that it would be better not to look at parking in isolation. Local environmentalists are calling for more cycle lanes, whilst the business community have been calling for a large Park and Ride scheme for years. Under such a scheme visitors could park their cars on the outskirts of the city and catch frequent buses into the centre, reducing the numbers of cars flooding in. Tony Mernagh city centre manager said: "We strongly support the provision of sustainable transport options amongst which we would like to see park and ride on the outskirts of town in the near future." The council seem to agree. "We believe Park and Ride is an important ingredient and we will be coming forward with schemes in the near future that take account of it," says councillor Bodfish.

The problem is where to site such a scheme. Most viable locations are protected greenfield sites. "Creating a 3,000-space car park on the edge of Brighton won't stop cars coming in, it will just make more car parking spaces," says Keith Taylor of the Green party. "The business lobby is very vociferous but they haven't thought it through," he says.

As politicians continue to argue the point, it is clear that there are no easy answers to the whole issue of car use in Brighton & Hove. "It's time people faced up to the hard choice. The new parking enforcement is just the start of an on-going process," says Superintendent Cox. councillor Bodfish agrees: "There is no simple solution, go to any city in Europe and you'll find this is a problem. We just don't have the space to accommodate the number of vehicles."

Whatever you think about the new scheme, it's clear that something has to be done. Let's hope this time it'll help us all to find some space, without costing the earth.

copyright New Insight 2001

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