Parking review to keep roads and bus lanes moving will start immediately in Brighton and Hove - as Lewes Road consultation gets underway

Buses manoeuvre around parked cars on Lewes Road above The Level - Google

Friday, 10 November 2011. A review of car parking in Brighton and Hove, aimed at improving traffic flow, will start immediately in some parts of the city, according to an announcement by the city council yesterday.

The announcement said: "The citywide parking review will aim to improve service for all."

Councillor Ian Davey, cabinet member for transport and the public realm, said: "We also have to strike a balance between competing interests so that parking management is fair and achieves our aims of reducing congestion, maintaining safe access, and keeping the city moving on our roads and bus lanes."

Cllr Davey is a member of the Green Party who lead council and who have a manifesto commitment to promoting sustainable transport.

Also today, a public consultation - about the traffic clogged and polluted Lewes Road - got under way. Although not specifically included in the parking review, of the items on this agenda will be parked cars clogging up the Lewes road and slowing traffic flow for all road users.

The decision to start the parking review immediately was taken at a special meeting of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Cabinet (Wednesday, 9 November). The original decision was 'called in' by the Environment & Community Safety Overview & Scrutiny Committee with a request to reconsider reviews of parking schemes separately from a citywide parking review. The committee also asked that the cabinet look at bringing forward a review of parking in the Wish area of Hove.

At today's meeting, councillor Davey agreed to review the timetable and resources for work on residents' parking to see whether this could be accelerated and begin consultation on the following four residents' parking schemes:
Richmond Heights (Area C extension)
Canning Street (Area H extension)
London Road (Area J extension north of the railway line and Round Hill area)
Preston Park (Area A northern extension)

Councillor Ian Davey said: "These schemes have been selected as the most pressing from information provided by ward councillors and residents. They are also the most urgent in terms of road safety, with high levels of congestion and double parking.

"Parking is a complex issue for the city. I have taken on board the views expressed by the scrutiny committee and representations from residents and ward councillors.

"Rather than waiting for the outcome of the citywide parking review, I have decided to take action now to progress urgent work on residents' parking. Work on these schemes is not incompatible with the citywide review as one will inform the other."

Proposals for other resident's parking schemes will be taken into account as part of the citywide parking review. The review will take a year to complete, with a commitment to provide an update within six months.

Residents and businesses from across the city will have the opportunity to take part in the review and their input will shape the future of the city's parking service.

The review will cover public on and off-street parking. It will investigate long term parking issues and how the council should consult in the future, as well as looking at the best practice of other councils.

Councillor Davey said: "It is important that any consultation is meaningful and that we give residents and businesses the opportunity to help shape the future of parking management. We want to know what's working well and what doesn't work.

"The review will involve cross-party contributions through the scrutiny process and we'll be directly consulting residents groups and organisations such as the police and fire service. All the information provided will be invaluable to achieving the best outcome for the city.

"We also have to strike a balance between competing interests so that parking management is fair and achieves our aims of reducing congestion, maintaining safe access, and keeping the city moving on our roads and bus lanes."

There will be various ways the public can take part, via the website, and through a survey to be sent to 6,000 random addresses across the city.

Once residents, businesses, councillors and organisations have had the opportunity to shape the content of the review, public consultation will take place in the spring of next year.
Related information

Read the report discussed at the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Cabinet Members Meeting

Find out more about parking in Brighton & Hove

Plan your journey

New cycle parking opens at the front of Brighton station

Area cleared of cycle parking - new parking behind taxis at far end

9 September 2011. The new cycle parking has now opened at the front of Brighton station after a campaign to get the cycle parking reinstated when Southern Rail demolished it earlier this year.

The new bike parking is in a new position and smaller than the destroyed facility. During the absence of parking at the front of the station, dozens of bikes were chained to the railings outside the station daily.

The new parking is on the right hand side as you enter next to the transport police office and vehicles behind the taxi rank.

Councillor Ian Davey, who helped campaign for the reinstatement, said: "Thanks to everybody who helped with the campaign to encourage Southern to provide this facility and to them for responding so quickly. It is surrounded by a large fence and is well covered by CCTV so should be reasonably secure. Another Green win!We now need to make sure it is used."

In the pace where the old cycle racks were, there is now a fruit and veg stall.

Cycle lane violations: website for reporting cars parked on cycle lanes in Brighton and Hove

I just discovered a website for reporting cars parked on cycle lanes. It is a worldwide website, with a special section just for Brighton, and with quite a few local entries. It includes photos and licence plate numbers, with a handy table where the numbers of offenses for each licence plate are totalled.

Cycle lane violations in Brighton and Hove can be reported here: http://brighton.mybikelane.com/

Southern Rail U-turn on Cycle Parking at main entrance to Brighton Station: 40 new spaces at front (south entrance)

May. Cyclists locked bikes to railings outside

8 July 2011. Southern Rail today announced that a new 40-space double-tier bicycle parking facility is to be installed at the south side of Brighton railway station by September 2011.

The announcement is a reversal of the previous decision by Southern not replace cycle parking facilities at the front of the station, which were removed during renovations earlier this year. At that time, Southern said cycle parking represented a security threat in that they could not monitor bags left on cycles in the busy main entrance to the station.

The new cycle rack will be located where currently there is a small car parking area used by British Transport Police (BTP) and Southern Staff adjacent to the building that houses the BTP offices and public conveniences. It will be fenced, and monitored 24 hours a day by Southern’s CCTV Control Centre. The new facility is due to be completed by early September.  

As they once were: an estimated 100 cycles or more at station front

May: The space where the old cycle racks once were

Cyclists protested against the removal of the cycling facilities, saying no consultations were made, and that the remaining provisions were less convenient since they were at the rear of the station and required cyclists to dismount, and walk through the station onto a rear platform before they could park. As a consequence, the front railings became festooned with bicycles locked to the railings.

The cabinet member responsible for Transport in Brighton and Hove's new Green-led City Council, Cllr Ian Davey, backed the campaign to get cycle parking re-instated at the front of building. He described the move as a Green win and said: "I have been discussing the need for provision of cycling parking at the front of the station with Southern since coming into post in May. I am delighted they have listened and responded so positively. I look forward to them being opened in September.”

Cllr Ian Davey is also Brighton and Hove City Council’s Deputy Leader.

A council spokesperson said: "Southern has been working closely with Brighton and Hove City Council on plans for the station frontage including cycle parking, and following recent feedback from cyclists who use the station, installation of the two-tier rack will begin next month."

Southern’s Franchise Improvement Director, David Scorey said: “We are pleased to announce the installation of this new facility. Although we have put in over a hundred extra cycle parking spaces at the rear of the station which are very well used, some of our passengers told us they wanted parking to be available at the front. This will go some way to meeting those requirements.”

Opinion
Cycling should be made a more convenient option option, not less convenient.

In my opinion, the 40 new cycle parking spaces will barely be able to cope with the number of cycles already chained to the front of the station. It seems clear that people some people are leaving their cycles there for long term parking. Not only is there a train station and a bus terminus there, it is the gateway to Brighton's main shopping area, and dense residential areas of Queens Road, Western Road and the North Laine. If we are going to encourage cycling, we need to plan for storage for a lot more cycles. It seems a pity to waste the quadrangle in front of the Station, and Southern should play its part in promoting sustainable transport. But they do face a problem - how to deal with cycles left there long term, and even abandoned. Could they levy a small fee, as is done in some other places? Should the city provide a large cycle parking facility? Watch this space.

How it is done in Utrecht
Take a look at this video, and the comments below it, to see how another station in another city is providing parking for cyclists.

Brighton: Sign warning cyclists not to park cycles.

Brighton: Railings outside the front of the station

Cyclists protest against the removal of cycle parking facilities from Brighton Railway Station

This cycle parking at Brighton Station is scrapped. greynet.org.uk

19 May 2011. On Friday 13 May cyclists at a meeting of the Station Gateway Group protested against the removal of cycle parking racks from the main (south entrance) of Brighton Railway Station. Scores of cycles are now chained to railings at the front of the station and facing the bus depot and surrounding shops.

A Brighton resident who was at the meeting said: "There was no community consultation about the decision to remove the cycle racks. Southern Railways says cyclists can use the cycle racks at the rear (north entrance) of the station. But most people arrive at the station from the main entrance, which faces the seafront and the North Laine shopping and entertainment areas. To get to the rear you have to dismount and walk through the station and onto a platform. Studies show that cyclists typically won't go more than fifty meters to park their cycles. The response of the station manager who was at the meeting was unsympathetic to cyclists - he said that since cars have to park at the back, there's no reason why cyclists should not do so as well."

Chris Hudson, Media Relations Manager for Southern Rail who operate the station, said security was the primary reason for the decision to remove all cycle storage facilities from the station frontage on a permanent basis. He said the chained cycles represented a security risk in the crowded front for the station, since rucksacks and satchel bags are left attached to bikes.

"People have been chaining their bikes to the railings around Brighton station for many years. There are sufficient cycle parking facilities at the rear of the station, so there should be no need for people to chain their bikes to railings at the front," Mr Hudson said.

"We re-painted the canopy which stretches across the entire station frontage and in order to carry out the work safely bicycles the coffee bar and the taxis were moved from the front to the back. Cycles are now permanently parked at the rear of the station which has been the intention for some time," he added.

In answer to speculation that Southern Rail will use the space freed up by removing the cycle storage for retail sites, Chris Hudson said: "There are no plans at present to develop the area left free by the cycle park at the front of the station."