Brighton Set For Major Parking Charge Increase

A big rise in parking charges for four controlled zones in Brighton and Hove appeared in council budget papers but has since been described as “an error” by senior councillors.

The changes were part of a series of draft increases in Brighton and Hove City Council’s fees and charges, due to be discussed by the council’s cabinet.

They also appeared in a press release that was published yesterday (Wednesday 11 February) and papers for the council’s People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Thursday 19 February.

The proposals would need to be agreed by the “budget council” meeting on Thursday 26 February before they come into force.

The erroneous increases covered parking zones C, in Queen’s Park, H, in the Kemp Town hospital area, J, around London Road Station, and N, in central Hove, and suggested that the zones would move from low to medium tariffs.

It would mean an increase of than 60 per cent for 11 hours of parking from £8.90 to £14.50, a new six-hour charge of £11 and a 40 per cent increase for four hours from £6.40 to £9.

One hour’s parking would increase from £1.60 to £2.20, up 37.5 per cent, and parking for two hours would increase from £3.30 to £4.50 – up 36.4 per cent in the four zones.

When contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor said that the published figures were “wrong”.

And fellow Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport, later said that the proposed changes had been presented to him as part of the process of trying to make parking charges simpler but had been published in the budget papers in error.

Councillor Muten said:

“The mistake is where there is low-demand paid parking, it was moved to medium. And that was not the intention. We want to keep those as ‘low’.

“We’ve made sure the finances add up and we can do this without any detriment to the budget calculation. We’ll amend the paper.”

An amendment this afternoon said that the issue with the parking charges as the result of a “typographical error”.

When Labour won the 2023 local elections, it scrapped higher-rate charges for the same four zones after an outcry from the public.

Concerns were raised about the effects on hospital workers, patients and visitors who tended to park in zones C and H.

In July 2023, the Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey said that the proposals at that

time to almost quadruple some parking charges would not go ahead.

After much fanfare on keeping parking charges down in 2023, opposition councillors were surprised to see that Labour appeared to go down the route that they had previously opposed.

Green councillor Steve Davis, the leader of the opposition, said:

“Labour made such a big show about not increasing these charges not that long ago so for them to U-turn on that decision two years down the line shows just how desperate things have become.

“This is a begging bowl budget and it’s high time the administration was honest with this city’s residents about why charges are going up so substantially and why services are being cut so dramatically – it is a continuation of austerity delivered by a Labour government.

“Labour needs to stop protecting their pals in Westminster and instead stand up for the people they are supposed to represent and demand the proper fundings that local councils deserve.”

Conservative leader Alistair McNair and his deputy councillor Anne Meadows issued a joint statement.

They said:

“Why are Labour hitting hospital workers with eye-watering parking charge increases?

“In January 2025, Councillor Muten described previous charges proposed by the Green Party as ‘horrid and regressive and targeted key workers’.

“Councillor Muten said Labour was ‘on the side of low-paid key workers’. Clearly, the Labour party can’t claim to be on the side of working people any more.”

Big increases are still on the cards on the seafront where different tariffs will apply to the summer and winter months.

The charges are due to more than double along the eastern end of Madeira Drive for the summer – from the start of March to the end of October – and along the whole length of the road and Kingsway, Hove, during the winter.

The charge in Madeira Drive east is due to increase by 256 per cent for an hour in the summer months, from £1.60 to £5.70, bringing it in line with the western end and King’s Road.

For two hours, the increase is 197 per cent, to £9.80, and for four hours by 135 per cent to £16.50.

Winter tariffs are also increasing from £1.60 an hour to £3.30, an increase of 106 per cent, and for two hours to £7.40, a 124 per cent increase.

The draft budget said that the council was looking to save £50,000 by digitising parking permits.

A 3 per cent increase in parking permit charges is proposed. This is expected to generate £633,000 – and new parking zones an extra £400,000.

Increases to on-street parking charges are forecast to produce an extra £956,000 in revenue if approved.

This would include a new six-hour charge, bridge the current gap between four and 11 hours.

Parking in streets around Dyke Road and The Level are earmarked to increase by 48 per cent for one hour, from £3.30 to £4.80.

Resident, trader and business permits are due to go up by 3 per cent, broadly in line with inflation, but permits for schools, doctors and carers – paid and unpaid – would be frozen.

The council, like all other councils, is bound by a High Court ruling by Mrs Justice Lang on parking surpluses.

The judge said the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 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”.

If a surplus is generated, it can be used to fund transport projects.

Brighton and Hove City 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 other transport-related spending.

The council’s cabinet meeting is due to start at 2pm today (Thursday).

The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.