Residents circulated a petition in June 2008 asking the council to include them in the consultation for the London Road Station Area residents parking scheme.
In June 2009, an information leaflet, map and questionnaire were sent to households in the area bounded by Viaduct Road, Ditchling Road, Stanford Avenue and Preston Road. Residents were invited to public exhibitions at the Calvary Evangelical Church Hall and Hove Town Hall.
The exercise was poorly executed: the consultation was described as allowing people to express their views, whereas the council counted their responses as votes. The accompanying leaflet didn’t explain that the council planned to subdivide the area or implement the scheme on a street by street basis. It didn’t mention the Preston Park controlled parking scheme which was about to be implemented. The questionnaire wasn’t delivered in an audited way so some people got more than one while others didn’t receive it at all.
Nonetheless, in November 2009 the council decided to introduce a residents parking scheme in the “Viaduct Rise” area (bounded by Ditchling Rise, Ditchling Road and Beaconsfield Road) but not in the rest of the area consulted.
As a result of a deputation asking for Springfield Road, Florence Road and the lower part of Southdown Avenue to be included, the council agreed to a further consultation with residents in the area north of the railway. Residents were asked whether they objected, or did not object, to this proposal. This process effectively gave residents of the roads north of Florence Road the right to veto the proposal.
This stage of consultation resulted in a majority of residents in the area north of the railway line saying that they were not in favour of adjusting the boundary to include these roads, although the majority of residents in Springfield Road, Florence Road and the lower part of Southdown Avenue were in favour.
Despite the unfairness of this process, council officers have said that the boundary for the London Road Station parking scheme will remain as agreed at the Cabinet Member Meeting on 5 November 2009, i.e. south of the railway line.
The Traffic Order was published on 1 May and the closing date for objections was 24 May. A report was presented to the Environment Cabinet Members Meeting on Monday 26 July 2010 when it was agreed that the scheme would go ahead without including any streets north of the railway line.
The residents parking scheme came into force on 27 September 2010.
