NEWS
Mon 13th October 2003
Well we may be getting somewhere at last. Maybe? TAPP received a letter from Counciller Ted Kemble, after Mr Kimble had discussions with Councillor Pat Drake concerning TAPP's issues. They have now written to us saying they are happy to meet with TAPP leaders with regard to the present parking schemes across the city. Progress in the offing. Perhaps! Watch this space...
Tuesday 16 September 2003
The price of parking on Brighton and Hove seafront will rocket by up to 50 per cent next summer. The price hikes are part of a review of parking charges which the council says is aimed at encouraging public transport use. Two hours parking will go up 40 per cent from 60p to 80p and four hours will rise from £1.50 to £1.80. City transport spokesman Simon Battle said the new charges remained value for money. But hotel owners and traders warned the resort was in danger of pricing itself out of the tourist market. The announcement comes after the city council had netted almost £2 million from on-street parking last year. Roger Marlowe, who runs Paskins Hotel in Kemp Town and is chairman of the Brighton and Hove Guesthouse Association, said: "It is outrageous that a council will do everything it can to squeeze motorists out of the city. This increase is yet another example. "The first things people ask when making a booking at our hotel is 'How much is it?' and then 'Where can I park?' "By continually making it more difficult for motorists to visit they are damaging the economy. "People do have cars, they do drive them to Brighton and Hove and they want to be able to park near where they stay. More car parks and parking spaces should be made available." Steve Percy, of the People's Parking Protest, said: "If parking spaces create money that money should go towards creating more parking spaces. That does not happen in this city." TAPP's Roger McArthur said: "Haven't they made enough money already? "This council is pricing motorists out of the city. It's as if they don't want people to come here." Read More...
Saturday 13th September 2003
Motorists have paid almost £2 million for a year's parking on the streets of Brighton and Hove. The money raised by on-street parking schemes has been revealed in the annual statement of accounts for Brighton and Hove City Council. Accounts show £1,961,764 was generated as a surplus from on-street parking during the past financial year, compared with £1,758,318 recorded in the accounts for the previous year. Campaigners say some of the cash should be spent on cutting the cost of parking for residents and traders. By law the money has to be ploughed back into road maintenance and improvements, better parking, improved public transport and better lighting. Transport councillor Simon Battle said much of the money would go back into public transport and improved controlled parking zones. He said: "It may sound a lot but it is the sort of sum you would expect from a local authority running parking enforcement." Tory opposition leader Brian Oxley also stressed the need for cash to go into improved public transport. He said: "I do not want to see any of the money diverted into other things." Lib Dem group leader Paul Elgood said the cash generated by parking schemes should be spent on reducing the cost of parking charges. He said: "With revenue so high, the council should also put money back into sustainable transport." However, traders campaigning against the council's parking charges are furious the council has raised so much revenue at the expense of their businesses. Roger McArthur, of TAPP, said: "There's profit and then there's profit. "Perhaps the council can use some of this to cut the waiver fee of £3 and to reduce the £300 traders permit charge to something like that paid by residents for parking. "After all, we only use one bay." Read More...
Wednesday 06 August 2003
Four out of five people who take their challenge against parking tickets to the top are winning their cases. New figures from National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS), the final board of appeal for motorists who believe tickets have been unfairly issued, put Brighton and Hove in the top five nationally for the number of successful complaints. Figures released by the city council reveal about 40 per cent of the 15,000 drivers who appeal penalty notices each year are getting them quashed immediately. Those who fail have the option to take their case on to the NPAS. Read More...
Friday 31st July 2003
Well things did'nt quite pan out as expected. The town center was extememely busy (it took me half an hour just to get from the clocktower to the pier), plus all our banners which were being stored at a work-site nearby was locked as everyone had gone home! Undeterred the 8 or 9 of us stood outside the Brighton Town Hall quizzing people as they walked in asking if they were councilors or not. All said no and by the time we headed for the enviroment committee meeting at 5pm, everyone else was already there, suggesting perhaps word got out of our planned demonstration causing them to start their meeting early? So we all trundled in and sat in the public area and listened, and listened, and listened. Roger McArthur attempted to say something and was soon told to keep quite at which time most of us walked out as it was apparent that nobody was willing once again to listen to our plight as traders. So it looks like another van rally protest is in store. We are going to have a meeting in a few days, send out a letter asking for support to as many local businesses as we can put into our database and then sock it to Brighton & Hove Council hard. No forewarning this time. Maximum distruption that's for sure. 2 years we've been on this campaign trail and 2 years the council have not done anything to help the traders of this city. If you are in business yourself, expect to recieve a letter from TAPP shortly asking for your support, because this affects YOU.
Wednesday 30th July 2003
We are now set for our 7th protest tommorrow and this time we will be leaving our vans and walking to Brighton Town Hall were we will protest directly to councillors as they arrive for an enviroment committee meeting. For almost 2 years now we have been protesting about the £3 waiver scheme and have got absolutley nowhere. The bother of getting waivers then having to finish our jobs by 4pm to avoid getting parking tickets is making it not worth doing certain work in the center of Brighton & Hove. If you are a trader and are affected by this waiver scheme, please come along and show us your support. Read More...
Tuesday 15th July 2003
TAPP have now formed a committee so that we can properly organise business. At todays committee meeting we discussed developments (or lack of) and decided what to do next as it was evident Brighton & Hove City Council were just palming us off with one excuse or another. We have decided that another protest is needed although this time we are planning two of them close to each other. The first one will involve a blockade during an enviroment committee on July 31st outside Brighton Town Hall. This will involve chaining ourselves to the entrance doors. The second protest will be along the lines of car & van convoy's similar to protests we've already done. Also we are currently building a huge database of all the local business addresses so that we can send out 'info' packs and hopefully build upon our support which has been dwindling of late, mainly because nobody knew what was going on. The database should resolve this problem.
Tuesday 17th June 2003
In a letter addressed to TAPP's Dick Levett from Dick Davey Thomas, parking manager, it says, "During the past 18 months TAPP have put their views to Brighton & Hove City Council. Many of the points raised by TAPP have been placed before the council and it is not our intention to keep going over the same ground over and over again. Our consultants have examined current arrangements and have been asked to introduce a data capping system which should make the parking system more efficient. It should be noted that more traders are using trader's permits. Brighton & Hove City Council will not alter the 4pm time limit on residents bays. We have already recieved many diverse views regarding the public consultation that is being carried out. With the assistance of our consultants, we will try to introduce schemes that best reflect those views." Clearly more action will be needed by TAPP.
Monday 16 June 2003
The Green Party is calling on Brighton & Hove City Council to gauge public support for a new controlled parking zone, a proposal being considered at a meeting by the enviroment committee on July 31st. A residents parking scheme could be considered for an area bounded by Ditchling Rd, Viaduct Rd, Beaconsfield Rd and Springfield Rd, Brighton. A Green Party councillor said the parking spaces inside this area are in high demand. At our recent TAPP committee meeting we decided that further action needs to be taken and we will be hoilding another protest to co-incide with with the enviroment committee on July 31st.
Friday 13 June 2003
It has been two years, 284,488 tickets, 92 appeals and £8 million since Brighton and Hove City Council signed a four-year parking management deal with NCP. A team of more than 70 NCP employees patrols the city's streets seven days a week. NCP signed a four- year contract with Brighton and Hove City Council to operate the city's on-street parking management in July 2001. It has since dished out 284,488 penalty charge notices, the equivalent of about 390 a day. Of the parking tickets issued - equivalent to 390 a day - just 41 have been successfully challenged through the council and the National Parking Adjudication Service. Read More...
21st April 2003
We are staging our sixth protest over the city council's parking policy which will start from Madeira Drive, Brighton, on Wednesday at 7:45am. Our convoy of plumbers, electricians, carpenters and builders who need to park in the centre of Brighton and Hove to carry out our work, will once again drive slowly along the seafront to Hove Town Hall. We will make a circular tour of the surrounding roads, causing traffic delays. Roger McArthur, of TAPP, said: "This could be our last demonstration in the hope the council sees sense in the run-up to the election. We are just fed up with the hassle of paying out and complying with these parking regulations, which prevent us from doing our work for the public properly." Read More...
4th March 2003
Rush hour traffic was brought to a standstill this morning as our convoy of angry traders staged our fifth protest against the city's parking policy. From 8am today, around 40 vans drove slowly along the seafront from the Palace Pier past council offices at King's House, Grand Avenue, Hove, and on to Hove Town Hall. Fewer took part than some of the previous protests but we still made our presence felt along a foggy seafront. Our slow-moving convoy with horns blaring also had posters on our vehicles saying "Council Policy will not Work, We Do" and "Let Traders Work. No to Unfair Delays and Charges". This time, the protest opposing Brighton and Hove City Council's parking policies was taken on to public transport as builders with ladders, pick axes, shovels, bags of cement and wheelbarrows tried to board a bus to get to work. But the driver of the No 1 service to Whitehawk refused to allow them on to his already overcrowded vehicle outside Hove Town Hall. Gordon Dinnage of Dinnages Property Maintenance said, "I nipped down to Hove Town Hall at 9am this morning to see what was going to occur with the TAPP protest & saw them attempting to board a low floor buggy bus with ladders & barrows of tools. Maybe next time tools in a kiddies buggy might be allowed on instead of wheelbarrows!. Although within the building trade myself I do not drive in the protest I have sympathy with some of the hassles it causes the bone-fide traders who have to deal with the system." TAPP added buses to the agenda as we had been told by the council to make greater use of the city's network to get to work. As builder Roger McArthur tried to negotiate his extended ladders onto the lower deck, he said: "I think this proves our point, it is impossible for us to catch the bus to work as some councillors and council officials have suggested. For us to do that, buses would need trailers and I can't see that happening." Disc jockey Mick Casey, a member of TAPP and one of the participants in today's white van protest, said: "There should be a scratch card system for the parking waivers. Sometimes I get a call to do a last-minute show and there is not time for me to get a waiver. If I had a book of them, for which I am willing to pay, there would be no problem."
02 November 2002
Traders will continue direct action protests against a council's parking policy after dismissing a compromise offer as "a joke". Brighton and Hove City Council yesterday announced changes to its parking arrangements but refused to budge on the controversial £3 parking waivers. But traders claim the charges are too high and are forcing them out of the city. Environment committee chair Chris Morley yesterday said traders with parking permits would be allowed in residents' bays for four hours rather than two but no later than 4pm. Read More...
25th October
Many thanks to Ian (www.parkinginbrighton.com) who has kindly set up a forum for TAPP members. Here's your chance to submit your views on the current parking policies along with any comments you would like to make.
18 October 2002
TAPP will disrupt rush-hour traffic for the fourth time when they stage one of our biggest protests against parking policy. The centre of Brighton and Hove is set to grind to a halt during rush hour on Monday morning as vans decked in protest banners drive along the seafront with our horns blaring. The protest once again will be made up of small firms that need to park in the heavily-controlled city centre. Previous protests in June, August and September by builders, plumbers, electricians and other service firms led to severe disruption, with traffic at times brought to a standstill. Roger McArthur, a builder and spokesman for TAPP, said: "We have restricted the size of some of our previous protests to 100 vehicles. Read More...
08 October 2002
The Liberal Democrats want to half the cost of parking for thousands of people in Brighton and Hove. At present some people in Hove pay £40 a year for parking permits but those in the busier areas pay £80. Councillor Paul Elgood, leader of the Lib Dems on the city council, said if in control after the May elections, his group would standardise the charge at £40. Read More...
26th September 2002
For the 3rd time this year our convoy of 230 vans took to the streets of Brighton bringing rush-hour traffic to a halt. Hundreds of commuters were caught up in the jam as once again TAPP members felt the need to express to the city council our unhappiness over thier enforced parking regime. Traffic ground to a halt for around 30mins as our go-slow protest circled Brighton Town Hall 3 times in our endeavour to disrupt a full council meeting. This time we geared ourselves up with banners and t-shirts and raised around £50 for the Rocking Horse Appeal Tory Councillor David Bennet and his wife just managed to get to the council meeting with one minute to spare after being caught up in the protest. He said "The traders have a good cause although I'm not sure this is the way to go about it". Read More...
12th September 2002
From today TAPP members will be stood outside both Brighton and Hove waiver offices in another attempt to make aware to the public our concerns. We will be distributing leaflets to highlight our cause before our next protest rally on the 26th.
4th September 2002
Our meeting at The Brunswick last night was well attended and very positive. Another plan of attack was put forward and will be announced at a later date.
29th August 2002
I spoke with Paul Nicholls today to see if there was any change to the council's last response. There is absolutely no change of attitude and we still have to await the outcome of the 6 month review to see if our demands will be met. Another piece of news is that the parking office attendances have rejected the council's request to extend office hours. Roger McArthur, T.A.P.P
22ndAugust 2002
The protest on Monday 19th August 2002 was reported on Meridian TV and as a result of the publicity, PRAG (Parking Reform Action Group) in Canterbury have requested an alliance with TAPP.. Oddly enough, Canterbury Council took a coach-load of independent traders from Canterbury to Brighton in June 2001 to demonstrate the way in which Brighton Council was working with local businesses, so we are pleased to follow up this initiative with our alliance between protest groups.
19th August 2002
T.A.P.P staged a second go-slow protest today which stretched more than half a mile. Although we did'nt get the level of support we had hoped for, over 450 angry van drivers and trader's, set off from Madeira Drive at 8am bringing the city to a standstill. Our convoy set off from Madeira Drive and drove into Grand Avenue, Hove, past the council offices at King's House, and then down Church Road where we finally dispersed. Lloyd Hampshire, one of our co-ordinators said: "We have had negotiations with the council and we got nowhere. Read More...
15th August 2002
The centre of Brighton and Hove could grind to a halt as TAPP plan another traffic-jamming convoy of up to 700 vehicles snaking round the city in two streams. Both convoys will converge on Hove Town Hall at about 9am, then do a circular tour of the surrounding streets sounding their horns and displaying banners demanding a fairer deal on parking. The last protest on June 5, which we described as a "taster," saw 300 vans drive slowly through the city towards Hove Town Hall. TAPP spokesman Roger McArthur said: "This time we are really going for it. Read More...
07th August 2002
Brighton and Hove traders have voted unanimously to stage a second go-slow protest against parking charges. Supporters of Tapp met last night and decided to act on August 19. We also declared that if high charges were not curbed, call-out fees could rise by £20 to £30. Committee chairman Jeff Hunt, of Coleman Hunt, told the meeting in the Brunswick pub in Holland Road, Hove: "I have met and talked to officers at the city council, laying out our demands, but their response has not been good enough. Read More...
02nd August 2002
Brighton and Hove traders have threatened another go-slow protest over parking fees after negotiations with council bosses broke down. TAPP say talks failed to resolve their complaints. Independent consultants JMP is carrying out a review of the city's parking but the review is set to take six months and traders want their demands addressed sooner. TAPP will meet in The Brunswick pub in Holland Road, Hove on Tuesday, at 7pm to plan our next move. Read More...
11th July 2002
Protesters are hoping controversial parking charges for traders in Brighton and Hove will be cut or scrapped after a meeting with councillors. A bid to reduce the price of the waivers is being made at a council meeting next week. Liberal Democrats on Brighton Council have tabled a motion to next Thursday's full council meeting to reduce the price from £3 to £1. Tapp said the extra charge was an unfair tax on their business. Under the strict new parking regime in Brighton and Hove, traffic wardens are giving £30 and £60 tickets to all vehicles they find infringing parking regulations. Read More...
04th July 2002
Tapp have called off our go-slow traffic protest while we hold talks with council officials about the controversial parking waiver system. More than 300 traders and their vehicles were scheduled to bring the centre of Brighton and Hove to a halt on Monday morning in protest against the £3 waiver charge. The first protest on June 5 involved almost 200 vans and vehicles taking part. The one planned for Monday was to be bigger, with two convoys setting off from Madeira Drive on Brighton seafront. Tapp has called off the protest as another meeting with the council is planned for Friday, July 12. Read More...
01st July 2002
When Tapp campaign leader Roger McArthur sunned himself on a Spanish beach, news reached him via his copy of the Mallorca Daily Bulletin, the holidaymakers' English-language newspaper. He was astonished to read about more parking troubles back home. An article about a parking warden who slapped a ticket on a hearse in Hove while undertakers moved a body made headlines in newspapers around the world. Read More...
25th June 2002
Brighton and Hove traffic wardens have sparked outrage after a hearse received a parking ticket while undertakers moved a body in the city. Traffic wardens pounced minutes after the deceased was transferred from the vehicle to a nearby chapel of rest. The black estate car was slapped with a ticket after being spotted on double yellow lines outside Bungard and Sons in Sackville Road, Hove - despite a sign in the window indicating it was on business. Brighton and Hove City Council yesterday apologised for the incident, admitting it had ignored its own parking laws. Under council legislation, funeral homes are exempt from parking restrictions and, unlike other businesses, do not even need to be issued with a waiver. Read More...
20th June 2002
Parking candidates are planning to stand in next year's city council elections to give voters a chance to voice their feelings about increased regulation. Two Brighton pressure groups, The People's Parking Protest and Traders Against Parking Persecution, are considering putting up candidates in key city centre wards at next May's Brighton and Hove City Council elections. Both groups feel the council has failed to consider the needs of residents and traders by employing National Car Parks to enforce the regulations. Read More...
19th June 2002
Tapp today threatened a second go-slow protest over parking charges unless council chiefs meet them within a week. Workmen said they could bring Brighton and Hove to a standstill with a convoy of vans if the meeting does not happen. We are writing to the city council demanding a meeting to discuss a compromise of the new parking waiver scheme introduced on June 5. Members of Tapp met in The Brunswick Pub in Holland Road, Hove, last night to discuss the fight. Committee chairman Jeff Hunt told the meeting: "Since the rally, we have written to the council formally expressing our objections. The council has replied and all I can say is they have tried to meet us on a couple of points but their response is very poor." Read More...
11th June 2002
Decorator Paul Andrews thought he'd won his battle against parking restrictions when a meter was removed from outside his home. But less than a year later he is facing another parking clampdown, which he says is threatening his business. Self-employed Mr Andrews, 40, fought last year against residential parking restrictions in Shirley Street, Hove. Mr Andrews was furious when Brighton and Hove City Council put a ticket machine outside his window. One side of the street became residents-only parking but residents on his side had to pay-and- display. Read More...
07th June 2002
Tapp have been told the council will not give way. Environment councillor Chris Morley said: "Controlled parking in the city is here to stay and there is no reason for traders to be exempt when everyone else must pay. Traders should be prepared to play their part by paying a small fee for a parking waiver when carrying out work within controlled zones. Everyone else who parks on controlled parking zone streets pays in one form or another. Residents buy annual permits, commuters and shoppers use pay-and-display tickets and companies within the zones that need vehicles to carry out business pay annual permits." Read More...05th June 2002
A Tapp convoy of 200 traders' vans disrupted rush hour traffic on Brighton seafront in protest at parking charges which came into force today. Builders, plumbers, electricians, scaffolders, window specialists and painters and decorators, who all need to park close to where they are working, joined the line of vehicles. The convoy, which set off from the Palace Pier at 8am today, stretched more than half a mile along Madeira Drive, Brighton. We then drove into Grand Avenue, Hove, past the council offices at King's House, and then down Church Road, and round Hove Town Hall, where we dispersed. Traffic ground to a halt as the convoy drove round Hove Town Hall, horns tooting. Read More...
27th May 2002
TAPP plan to bring Brighton and Hove to a standstill in protest at the city's tough parking regulations. We are threatening to cause chaos by driving convoys totalling 200 vehicles into the city centre along different routes on Wednesday, June 5. The go-slow will be similar to the demonstrations staged on motorways and major roads during the fuel protests two years ago. The protest is planned for the day when new £3 parking charges for traders who need to park on yellow lines and restricted parking areas come into force. A meeting to finalise the details of the protest is being held at the Brunswick pub in Holland Road, Hove, tomorrow at 7pm. Read More...
23rd May 2002
An 84-year-old woman fears helpers and workmen will start refusing to work at her home after a string of them were given parking tickets. After the boilerman, gardener, and decorator landed parking tickets when calling at Rosalie James's house to do maintenance work, the former civil servant began to get fed up of apologising to them. She is now calling upon Brighton and Hove Council to issue pensioners with waivers. She wants the elderly and the disabled who need important maintenance work done on their homes to be issued with parking waivers before some addresses in the city become no-go areas for people carrying out service work. Read More...
06th May 2002
A building firm boss is calling on firms to unite in a bid to overturn parking charges which are being imposed on the industry. Alan Sablon of A&A Builders has organised a meeting for builders and traders to air views about Brighton and Hove City Council's decision to charge them for parking in the city. Many say the charges will make it unviable for them to carry out essential or emergency repairs in the city. From June 5, the council is imposing a £3 a day charge for these waivers. In response, Mr Sablon is holding a meeting at the Brunswick Pub in Holland Road, Hove, on May 14 at 7.30pm. He said: "I want to get all the people that are up in arms or worried about the changes together to discuss it. Read More...
15th April 2002
A trader is fed up with parking restrictions he says have led to unfair penalty charges which make his working life almost impossible. Robert Filby, who owns a building and decorating firm in Brighton, has received three parking tickets in a fortnight. He says the tickets were issued while he was attending emergency jobs and he is asking Brighton and Hove City Council to disregard the fines. Mr Filby, of Burnham Close, Woodingdean, said: "I have worked around Palmeira Square and Adelaide Crescent in Hove for the past 30 years and have found it increasingly difficult to carry out repairs and maintenance to the 150 flats I look after in the square due to parking restrictions. Read More...
17th December 2001
Builders and tradesmen are furious after being told they can no longer get permits to park on double-yellow lines while they work. Electricians, builders, carpetlayers and other tradesmen working in central Hove were able to apply for temporary permits allowing them to park on double-yellow lines near their jobs. Now they have been told they will no longer be able to get permits for the 50 streets which make up Brighton and Hove's parking zone N. Instead, they have been told to use pay-and-display bays. Roger McArthur, of G&A Builders, said: "When the new parking rules came in last summer the council said we could have these waivers which allowed us to park on double-yellows while working for up to two weeks. Read More...
17th September 2001
Traders fear parking controls will force them out of business. The crackdown on parking means some business will have to leave the city, Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce was told. President Chris Shanks said, in general, parking rationing was essential in a situation where demand exceeded supply. However he said the scheme could be improved and hoped that the council would listen to the recommendations from the business community. Ann Townsend from the Federation of Small Businesses said: "This could force some people out of business." She said many small firms had to make deliveries and were being ticketed all the time. Read More...
17th July 2001
The backlash against Brighton and Hove's new parking blitz started just 24 hours after it was introduced. Traders, motorists, non car-owners and even one traffic warden have criticised the scheme as the first victims of the clampdown paid their £30 fines. Some protesters voted with their fists, vandalising the newly-installed solar parking meters before they were brought into service. There was further confusion when a new residents' parking scheme in central Hove was put on hold because of delays in sending out permits. Read More...
16th July 2001
Brighton's new parking attendants blitzed the streets of the city today. The 60-strong force, employed by Brighton and Hove City Council, targeted vehicles parked on bus routes, double-yellow lines and taxi ranks in the city centre. But motorists in Hove breathed a sigh as relief after the implementation of its new parking zone and restrictions was delayed for two weeks. In Brighton, at least three cars were towed away by one crew during the first few hours of the scheme. Tom Sanders was among the first to get a ticket for illegal parking in West Street, Brighton. Read More...
03rd July 2001
A bill of £1.2 million has been spent developing controversial parking schemes in residential areas. Brighton and Hove City Council paid £450,000 for outside consultants in addition to the cost of new machines and the administration of the schemes. The cash has been spent on setting up parking initiatives in areas including central Hove, which are being introduced next month. The figure was revealed at a city council meeting following a question by Lib Dem councillor Paul Elgood. Read More...
05th October 2000
Councillors are pressing ahead with a town centre parking scheme for Hove even though surveys have shown most people are against it. But Brighton and Hove Council has agreed to reduce the charges for the first year. Last night environment councillor John Ballance told Brighton and Hove's policy and resources committee that opinion was fairly equally divided over the scheme. He said many businesses were against it, however, and efforts were being made to tailor the scheme to benefit traders. Read More...
03rd September 1999
MORE than 10,000 people have demanded their say on the future of parking in Brighton and Hove. Brighton and Hove Council has been so overwhelmed by the response to its proposals to bring in new parking controls it has been forced to extend its consultation period for a second time. A leading councillor said it would take weeks to trawl through the backlog of replies. Read More...
