One
During the initial Hollingdean parking consultation (2022), residents in the proposed controlled parking area voted:
61.4% in support of a parking scheme
52.3% wanted a full scheme rather than light-touch
60.4% asked for it to be Monday-to-Sunday
£146 per year for an average family car permit
Total response rate: 33.0% (731 out of 2218).
Voting figures can be verified under Section 27 on the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee website or by reading the official report here (downloaded to this website 23/09/2022 from source).
Permit prices can be verified on the consultation website or by reading the council price list here (downloaded to this website 21/04/2023 from source). Resident permit prices in Hollingdean will start from £41.
Average family car emissions per year can be found in the SMMT annual reports.
Have you received a flyer putatively from us through your letterbox or under your windscreen wiper?
These are not from One Hollingdean. We do not, and have never, used door-to-door marketing in this fashion. Further, we do not agree with nor support the contents of these leaflets and believe them to be inappropriately alarmist, quoting costs and consequences that are simply not true.
As a local, resident-led campaign, we strongly support the introduction of restricted residents' parking within our neighbourhoods under certain considerations.
As far as we know, these flyers originate from individuals who are not residents of Hollingdean and do not have local interests at heart. These people benefit from being able to park on our streets for free. They:
- Store their second and third cars here.
- Store their work vehicles and campervans here.
- Use Hollingdean as a stepping point in their commute into the city.
These leaflets are often non-recyclable and dispersed indiscriminately across our neighbourhoods. They cause significant litter problems and block local drains. Notably, the individuals distributing these have never returned to clear up their litter afterwards. Instead, they leave it to local residents to clear up after them.
We maintain that introducing controlled resident parking in Hollingdean will significantly improve the quality of life for our residents. It will reduce traffic, reduce pollution (both air and noise), and it will make our roads safer.
June 2023:
What happens now?
We had previously understood that the consultation results would be prepared and presented to the Transport & Sustainability Committee (replacing the now-decommissioned Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee) at their meeting this month. This assurance had been seen as a way for the council to start makign amends for the delays we have seen throughout this process. However, this will now only happen once the newly formed committee finds their feet, most likely in October.
We now understand that the intention is for the results to be presented on the 3rd of October. This significant delay is disappointing, but at least it shows that the process is progressing - even if it is much slower than many would have liked.
The process from here
If support from the latest consultation is sufficient, a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) will be published. The TRO has a 21-day period where the general public can comment either in support or objection to the proposals; we would expect this to happen during the latter half of October and early November.
Once that period has passed, the TRO is sealed, and from there, the comments submitted will be considered. Depending on these, it could:
- Fail to proceed;
- Require further amendments, which would then be reported back to the City Environment, South Downs & The Sea Committee who would make a final decision;
- Proceed as advertised.
If either of the last two resolutions occur, we expect to see the zone implemented reasonably quickly thereafter.
If support in the past consultation is not sufficient, or concerns are raised that the committee deems need further consideration, then a new consultation with a new proposal will be published.
In most recent conversations, the council appears to remain committed to its original timeline (see January update below) despite significant delays in the process to date. This would mean that should there have been sufficient support in the latest consultation, and should the TRO be issued and proceed as advertised, we could still see implementation in December.
June 2023:
A look back a decade...
Hollingbury Crescent, Davey Drive, and Upper Hollingdean Road are the first streets within Hollingdean that you arrive on when driving out of the adjoining existing parking zones. Hollingdean is surrounded on three sides by controlled resident parking, whilst the golf course accounts for the remaining borders to the North (with no through-roads).
Any non-residents looking for free parking will inevitably pass down one of these three streets first and stop if space is available. As such, these three roads form great examples of areas where residents are feeling some of the most substantial pressures in the area.
With the power of Google Maps Street View, we can compare the current congestion levels for all three roads against how the same streets looked a decade ago when there were no adjoining resident parking zones. In speaking with residents on these streets, we understand that none of the vehicles shown in the June 2023 screenshots (on the right) belong to residents of these roads or the local area. Combined with the imagery Google Maps has collected, it really helps to demonstrate the issues that Hollingdean residents face.
Click on an image to view it at a larger size in a new window.
The same dramatic increase in vehicles, as seen in these screenshots, is also occurring across the wider Hollingdean area, especially in the areas that directly abut existing parking zones or feed off these entry roads.
As we have been discussing for many years, continuing to allow unrestricted parking in Hollingdean is congruous to not only the parking problems that residents have been facing (again - for many years) but also to the considerable and unnecessary local traffic, noise, and pollution brought from non-resident vehicles.
Fundamentally, the parking situation that Hollingdean has increasingly found itself in over the past few years means that our streets are busier, noisier, smellier, and less safe because non-residents use them to park day-to-day and store their vehicles.
May 2023:
A look at the 'actual' facts and figures
With an apparent mass campaign in full swing to misinform and lie to residents of Hollingdean, using fliers and social media posts to grossly exaggerate the consequences of a parking scheme, now seems like an opportune moment to revisit the results of the initial consultation from last year.
Following the initial consultation, the results were collated and presented to the ET&S Committee in September of 2022. Two sets of results were produced, both of which can be found on the council committee web page here. We have also downloaded copies of these two files and included them in the links below for posterity's sake, although you are welcome to confirm that the files here are the same as those published by the council.
1. The complete results
This is a complete set of results for the entire consultation, including every - valid - vote.
See the full report here.
- 52.6% supported a residents' parking scheme
- 45.4% prefer a full scheme
- 52.7% support a Monday-to-Sunday scheme
Despite these results very convincingly demonstrating support across the district, there were some areas of Hollingdean where support was significantly not in favour. This was to be expected as some areas within Hollingdean do not struggle with parking. It is therefore fair and democratic to take these areas into account. Those areas that did not vote in favour of a parking scheme are not to be included in the proposed scheme. However, these areas were consulted again in October last year. The turn-out was extremely low and no further action is planned for those areas of Hollingdean at this time. More on that is in the January 2023 post below.
2. The 'smaller area'
Considering the split of support across the (roughly) East and West areas of Hollingdean, a second set of results was also collated and presented at the same time, from the same consultation, at the same ES&T committee meeting.
These are the results for the area which showed the strongest support for a scheme and into which the council proposes controlled parking be introduced (at this time).
See the report for the 'smaller area' here.
- 61.4% supported a residents' parking scheme
- 52.3% prefer a full scheme
- 60.4% support a Monday-to-Sunday scheme
It is these results which relate directly to the current consultation. The residents of the 'smaller area' - which the design covers - voted significantly in favour of a full scheme (over a light-touch scheme), seven days a week.
We are aware that the fliers that have been distributed recently seek to confuse people by claiming that the area only voted for a light-touch scheme and that the council is pushing forward with a full scheme against the will of the residents. This is not true.
Whilst the wider Hollingdean area did indeed vote very marginally in favour of a light-touch scheme rather than a full one, once the areas that also voted against a scheme as a whole (and are not being included in this design) are removed, the support swings in favour of a full scheme instead.
Anybody who attempts to argue or convince residents using the 'full' set of results rather than the results from the area where the zone is being proposed either completely misunderstands the process, or is otherwise doing so out of malice.
May 2023:
Alarmist fliers make a reappearance in Hollingdean
During the initial consultation last year (and in previous years where consultations had been held), fliers started to appear across Hollingdean tucked under car windscreen wipers and pushed through letterboxes. They were deliberately styled and branded to appear as though they had come from us - a formal residential group. This was not the case.
They quoted inaccurate and alarmist details about the consequences of a residential parking scheme here and begged residents to vote against the proposals.
At the time, residents were able to speak to the individuals distributing these fliers and discover that they were not from Hollingdean. One was a Seven Dials resident who had been asked by her son's school PTA to distribute them; another was a resident from Fiveways who admitted to using Hollingdean to park his - multiple - vehicles.
These are not people who have the interest of Hollingdean residents at heart.
This week, we have started to see similar fliers appear again, although at least this time, some of them are not purporting to be from us! However, we did see one from 'One Hollindean' (with a missing 'g'). It is unclear if this was deliberate or a typo. The quality of the rest of the content on the flier would suggest typo.
Of the four different types of leaflet/flier we have now seen this time around, we strongly suspect that they all originate from the same individuals. Each follows the same tired format: littered with spelling, grammatical, and factual errors, over-exaggerated permit costs, doom-and-gloom about the consequences of a CPZ, and finally urging residents to vote against the proposed plan.
The real irony here is that the majority of the vehicles they have placed fliers on do not belong to Hollingdean residents and have not been touched in between their visits, meaning these leaflets and fliers are simply building up the windscreens of the same unmoved, non-resident vehicles we would like to see less of.
Again, these originate from, and are being distributed by, non-residents who stand to lose a lot if they cannot use Hollingdean as their personal car park and vehicle storage. Not the residents who suffer and struggle with additional pollution, traffic, and congested streets as a result.
It is important that every resident is able to form and share their own opinion in the survey if they should so wish. Please do not be fooled by these fliers: the facts they quote are easily demonstratable as false, and the people putting them there do not have your best interest in mind. Only their own.
It is likely no coincidence that these have begun to appear now - as we enter the final week of the consultation.
If you have not already done so, and feel you would like, please make sure you complete the survey on the council website below. The consultation ends on the 4th of June.
https://consultations.brighton-hove.gov.uk/parking/hollingdean/
April 2023:
Full scheme consultation begins
What should now be the final stage of the council's consultations regarding parking in Hollingdean has begun and can be accessed and filled in (by residents and business owners within the zone) here:
https://consultations.brighton-hove.gov.uk/parking/hollingdean/
This will run until the 4th of June. We now urge all residents and business owners within the zone (who will be receiving further details from the council in the post in the coming days) to fill in the survey to make sure that your opinions and wishes are presented to the council.
Click on the image to see the proposed plan in greater detail. This shows exactly as we expected, with the majority of parking within the area being set aside specifically for the use of local residents and their visitors. Whilst there are significant amounts of shared parking bays included (purple on the map), these are limited to either permit holders or paying vehicle owners. Non-permit holders will only be able to use these spaces for a maximum of four hours and will be unable to return within the following four hours.
This seems like a fair compromise between ensuring residents access to parking near their homes, and the needs of their visitors. It also removes the requirement to use limited visitor permits when residents have visitors.
January 2023:
Non-zone consultation results
Following the additional consultation held in October, in which Hollingdean residents whose addresses fall outside of the new Hollingdean parking permit zone were asked whether they would like to also be included, the results have now been published.
The results showed a further 52% support for a residents' parking scheme.
However, the overall turnout for this additional consultation was extremely low, with only 11% of the 1,279 households contacted taking part. Taking this low turn-out into account, the committee have agreed that no change should be made to the Hollingdean detailed design consultation boundary. The process continues as before.
Also provided in the agenda for January's meeting was an expected timeline (published for the first time), which suggests that we can expect to see full implementation of the scheme before the end of the year. This is a disappointing slip from the original promises made by the council, but at least it also now means that the end is in sight for our residents.
October 2022:
Non-zone residents are to be consulted
The council is now reaching out to those Hollingdean residents who live in roads that voted 'no' during the original consultation. As we have seen in Hollingdean when neighbouring zones have been introduced (and in particular Zone G on Hollingbury Road), there is a concern around displacement parking.
Those streets without parking controls are very likely to find that individuals who had previously used the wider Hollingdean area to park their second and third cars, use as part of their commute into Brighton, or store their camper cans, will instead park on those remaining 'free' roads. This will have the effect of compressing those vehicles into a smaller area, making parking for those residents more difficult still.
As a second stage to our parking consultation, residents on these roads within Hollingdean will be receiving a letter explaining these circumstances, and asking for their opinion on whether they would like their road to be included in the final design consultation.
This stage of the consultation starts on the 28th of October and is only available to residents living on roads within Hollingdean not listed in our previous update (below). Share your thoughts with the council on the link below (from the 28th, and before the 20th of November):
https://consultations.brighton-hove.gov.uk/parking/hollingdean-parking/
If the results of this show any significant change in opinion, these will be reported back to the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee in January, to seek approval for those additional roads to be included.
Further into the future, we expect that the design consultation stage will occur in the Spring of next year, with the finalised zone confirmed and implemented in time for the summer.
September 2022:
The Majority of Hollingdean residents vote for parking controls
Long anticipated, the results of the recent parking consultation here in Hollingdean were published by the council earlier this month.
As predicted, more than half of Hollingdean residents voted in favour of controlled parking within our neighbourhoods.
This is in direct contradiction to the misleading article published by Felice Southwell for Brighton & Hove News, who (wrongly) claims that residents had rejected parking controls.
Also as predicted, there were significant differences in the level of support across different areas of our ward. Areas to the South and West were particularly supportive (with many roads showing support in excess of 80%), whilst areas towards the East voted more modestly.
Taking this into account, it has been proposed (and is now being actioned by the council), that they focus on the introduction of controlled parking in the area of Hollingdean where support was highest.
This will be a full scheme, operating from 9am to 8pm, seven days a week.
This is being actioned on the condition (as we requested) that those residents of Hollingdean currently falling outside of the new zone, be written to by the council and given a further opportunity to join the zone should they wish; and that this should happen as soon as is possible after the zone is implemented.
The map included here shows the layout of this new zone, which will encompass the following streets within Hollingdean:
- Adams Close
- Barnett Road
- Davey Drive
- Dudley Road
- Dunster Close
- Freehold Terrace
- Harrington Place
- Hertford Road
- Hollingbury Crescent
- Hollingbury Place
- Hollingbury Rise
- Hollingbury Rise West
- Hollingdean Road
- Hollingdean Terrace
- Horton Road
- Major Close
- Payne Terrace
- Quarry Bank Road
- Roedale Road
- Southmount
- Stanmer Park Road
- Stanmer Villas
- The Crossway
- The Linkway
- Tintern Close
- Upper Hollingdean Road
- Waverley Crescent
- Wigmore Close
If you are a resident of one of these roads: you will be in the new parking zone.
The council will hold a second consultation shortly during which they will write to you to present the zone design and offer an opportunity to feed back.
If you are a Hollingdean resident but not of one of these roads: you will not be in the new parking zone.
It is unlikely that you will be further involved in the consultation process this time around. You will, however, be written to by the council in due course to explain your options and (potentially) offer the opportunity of a second consultation to include your roads.
We are pleased to see that council workers have already been spotted surveying the new zone. We look forward to more information before Christmas.
June 2022
With the latest parking consultation for Hollingdean now complete we reached out to council officials in the 'Parking Design & Implementation' team for comment. Although a significant amount of analysis is yet to be undertaken, and no official results will be published for some time, they were able to comment that results appeared to be 'significantly in favour' of a scheme within Hollingdean.
This means that work to design a suitable scheme has begun, which will be presented and considered at the next Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on 20th September. Full results will be available on the council committee page approximately a week prior to the committee meeting.
Whilst it is not possible to draw further conclusions at this time, it seems extremely likely that we may see (at least in part) the introduction of controlled resident parking in the following months.
It is important to remember that Hollingdean is a large and diverse ward within Brighton. Parking has been a contentious issue here for many years; areas of Hollingdean that border existing parking control schemes in Fiveways and Lewes Road in particular have been outspoken on the issue for many years. Conversely, areas of Hollingdean further North and East (and in particular in the estate itself) have seen very few problems.
This has historically led to a significant split in residents who are desperate for, and who are firmly against, controlled parking within their area.
We expect the council to treat the results of this consultation on a more granular level than seen previously. Rather than introducing (or not introducing) permits across the ward, this would potentially mean new schemes on streets or local areas where support is highest (mainly to the South of Hollingbury Place and to the West of Hollingdean Terrace), and perhaps not where support has proven to be lower.
We feel that this would be a fair solution to a democratic process. However, it would also likely mean further displacement of non-resident parking into areas of Hollingdean (and surrounding) where parking remained uncontrolled.
We wait to hear more from the council in the coming weeks.