Campaigner calls on officials in Brighton and Hove to scrap rise in parking charges
A review into parking fees and charges is taking place
A campaigner has called on Brighton and Hove City Council to ensure parking charges near the city centre will not go up after a review.
At the end of last month it emerged that a big rise in charges was due to affect a number of parking zones from Monday 17 July.
There was outrage from staff at the Royal Sussex County Hospital who park in the zone H area of Kemp Town, where charges were due to increase from ÂŁ5.50 to ÂŁ15.70 for four hours and from ÂŁ7.60 to ÂŁ22.70 for 11 hours.
One and two-hour parking was scheduled to go up from ÂŁ1.40 to ÂŁ5.60 and from ÂŁ2.80 to ÂŁ9.30 respectively.
Other affected areas included zone N in central Hove, including the town hall and station area, zone J, which includes streets near London Road station area and Fiveways, and zone C, around Queen’s Park.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s new Labour council administration announced it was reviewing the rises, and these will now not go ahead this month.
Friends of Brighton and Hove Citizens member Laura King, who stood in the local elections in May, said that the sharp increase could drive workers to leave their jobs and move to other areas, leading to businesses closing.
Ms King said that councils were not permitted to make “unreasonable profits” from parking after a ruling in 2013 when the RAC took Barnet Council to court.
In the High Court, in London, Mrs Justice Lang said that the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act was “not a fiscal measure and does not authorise the authority to use its powers to charge local residents for parking in order to raise surplus revenue for other transport purposes”.
The council’s parking charge surplus has been used to cover the cost of concessionary bus fares for older people and the disabled and to subsidise some bus routes and transport-related spending.
In 2021-22, surplus parking income went up to ÂŁ20.5 million from ÂŁ15.1 million the previous year.
Following inquiries by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Councillor Sankey confirmed the proposed increases are paused.
Councillor Sankey said: “Last week, we announced a review into parking fees and charges, due to have been introduced this month.
“Since then, council officers have been working to assess what options may be available to us going forward.
“More information about the review will be communicated by the chair of the Transport and Sustainability committee, councillor Trevor Muten when it meets on Thursday.
“A report will also be presented to the Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee next week.
“We’re working diligently to ensure we balance the financial challenges we face while taking people’s understandable concerns about rising prices during a cost-of-living crisis carefully into account.”
The Transport and Sustainability Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Thursday 6 July.
The Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Thursday 13 July.
Both meetings are scheduled for webcast on the council website.