Area F parking zone? YES, BUT...A citywide parking strategy should not be introduced piecemeal

I live just off Ditchling Road, north of Fiveways. Currently, there is not a severe parking problem in my road. But I am sure the council will help create one, given time.

It is crucial that the well-established practice of parking a single family car on a single crossover (or two on a double crossover) should remain; any change will only add to what is certain to result, under current proposals. Every proposed parking space in this quiet part of suburbia will be occupied all day, every day.

This is because my road is included in 'Area F' only as an overspill car park, for those multi-car households living elsewhere (concentrated in and around Fiveways itself, from Hythe Road to Dover Road).

Bizarrely, the amount of parking space in these roads will be significantly reduced under the current proposals. And chronic problems will continue '“ and spread.

In addition, the provision of pay-and-display spaces in my road - especially if fees are set, as proposed, at as little as £5.20 a day - will only invite more park-and-ride commuters who leave their cars in local roads and catch a bus (or cycle) into the city centre.

Neighbours are concerned that our garages '“ without driveways - may be regarded as "off-street" parking and that some of us may be refused even a single parking permit.

This is so ridiculous that I cannot believe it to be true. But maybe it is.

So why am I - and some of my neighbours - supporting a parking zone in Area F? Why am I supporting the devil, rather than the deep blue sea?

The answers: Because, selfishly, I want to shift the 'overspill' parking problem onto streets to the north of us that are outside the proposed Area F; otherwise, the roads near where I live will become the new epicentre of the parking problem that already exists in and around Fiveways.

My support for a residents' parking zone is, however, conditional: the current practice of parking on crossovers should be allowed to continue; there should be limits on non-residents' parking (for example, stay for up to four hours - no return within four hours; emphatically, there should not be all-day parking); the three schools and colleges in the area should be required to develop effective travel (and parking) plans, under which they accommodate safely all staff and student parking on their own campuses.

My main concern, however, is much bigger, less parochial, and less self-serving. A citywide parking strategy should not be introduced piecemeal. It should address the root cause of the problem - not address, incrementally, the hyper-localised symptoms. It should certainly include a substantial park-and-ride option for non-residents, combined with low-cost public transport.

It should not shift the problem. It should solve it.

Greg Hadfield is consulting editor of Brighton and Hove Independent