Purna Sen, the Labour parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, says proposals to increase parking charges in the city will damage local businesses and tourism.
PROPOSED increases, to be discussed at next week’s Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee, will include:
• Above-inflation increases in the cost of resident, visitor, business and trader permits of up to 7.7%.
• A doubling, from £1 to £2, of the hourly rate in city-centre car parks.
• Increases in on-street ‘pay and display’ rates across the city of up to 6.7%.
The proposals are expected to raise an extra £800k in revenue for the Council. Brighton and Hove City Council already raises £25.8 million annually from its parking operations – the highest of any council in the country outside London, but the money raised can only be used on other parking initiatives in the city.
Speaking out against the proposals, Purna Sen, Labour parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, said:
“Just about all the business people I talk to in the City complain about the effect on their trade of high parking charges.
“These continuing increases hit businesses across the City. It’s not only traders in the City centre.
“What about the builders, plumbers, decorators, gas engineers, electricians etc, many based on the outskirts, who need their vans to get to the jobs we want them to do and who will be hit by increased on-street charges ?
“As for visitors, if the Greens are really concerned about traffic congestion, why not show a bit of imagination? Instead of trying to price drivers out of the City, they should drop their blinkered opposition and back organisations like the Tourism Alliance who are calling for a proper park-and-ride scheme as part of a long-term solution. I do.”
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