IS COLDEAN A PARKING LOT?

Parking in Coldean at breaking point!

Again the bus service to Coldean was disrupted due to the football stadium fans parking in Coldean on Saturday, a resident in her 80s and partially sighted was turfed of the bus at the bottom of Coldean Lane because the bus was unable to access Coldean, unable to walk the considerable distance to her home in Hawkhurst Road, her friend who fortunately was travelling with her had to call a taxi  to get her home. 

Sorry Amex this is not acceptable, you need to manage your fans parking better!

As you probably know now, the Club has applied to the Council for permission to increase the capacity of the stadium. The application includes plans for additional “Residents Only Parking” signs in Coldean on match days.

I welcome the Clubs acknowledgement that it needs to deal with this problem. However as the use of temporary signs has shown, signs alone are unlikely to be enough to deal with the problem.

Therefore, I am asking the Council to include further conditions when it makes a decision on the Clubs application. These are:

(a) that signs should be used throughout the whole of Coldean and not only at the entrances into the Coldean residential Area;

(b) to require stewarding of the area by the Club and monitoring of the scheme by the Council on match days to help enforce the restrictions and to show if it is effective:

(c) that the Council should have regular reports on the scheme and, if necessary, be able to demand that further action be taken if this proposal does not deal with the problem.

I hope local residents will take the opportunity to let the Councils planning officers know why a strong and enforceable parking scheme for Coldean on match and event days is needed.

Full detail of the application and how to comment on it by email are on the Council’s website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk  search for planning application BH2011/03861. The details of the scheme for Coldean are in the traffic Assessment documents.

You can also send your comments by letter to

Development Control. Brighton and Hove City Council. Hove Town Hall. Norton Road Hove, BN3 3BQ.

Please make sure that you give your full postal address and that you quote the number and title of the planning application BH2011/03861 American Express Community Stadium. Application for variation of existing conditions.

All comments should be with the Council  by the 1st February at the latest.

If you do send comments to the Council it would be helpful to me to have a copy. You can email me at the address below or post it to me by Freepost to

Councillor Jeane Lepper, FREEPOST, RRBU-JZBZ-CXZC, Hove BN3 3BE.

jeane.lepper@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,

Jeane Lepper

Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor .  

                                                                                                       

Brighton University and the Varley Halls Construction site Do they really care about Coldean, I think Not!

After talks with the Brighton University and the site contractors very little has changed, parking near the site at the bottom of Hawkhust Road is worst than ever, with contractors and students parking on the pavements and grass verges damaging the infrastructure of Coldean. After promises from the University to address these issues I do not feel inspired by the actions they have taken so far.

The first phase of the construction is due to be completed around July, so the new accommodation you can see will be filled with more students, ok for the University but where are they going to park? you guessed correct Coldean!

Why was this planning application passed with little thought about the impact that the parking would have on the local community? Did the Council of the time and the University think that alternative and sustainable transport would be taken up by all of the students?

So where do we go from here? We cannot stop vehicle parking legally on our roads but we can stop disruption to our bus service. The Brighton and Hove Bus Company are looking at installing no parking signs on criticle parts of the bus route into Coldean and vehicles found parked causing an obstuction will be towed away.

Measures are being taken to stop vehicle parking on the pavements and grass verges and corners of the roads.

Remenber if you find a vehicle causing an obstuction report it to the police, they can take action

thomas.morvantoone@sussex.pnn.police.uk     07766205046