Park & Ride Refusal - Again!

So once again the city council have muffed it on park & ride, voting against yet another proposal for a new park & ride extension. Despite the scheme being radically scaled down before going to the Policy & Resources Committee on 7th December, it was defeated by the combined opposition of Tory, Green and LibDem councillors, giving the opposition a majority over the proposal of the minority Labour administration.

The Tories opposed because of local opposition in one of their safe seats. The Greens opposed because they are attached to unrealisable utopian dreams. The LibDems opposed because they float on the breeze.

Park & Ride is often portrayed by its opponents as the plaything of the business community, intent on making money at whatever cost to the environment. It is true that some business people think like that and that the city's business-dominated Economic Partnership have long championed the cause of park & ride, but those who will suffer its loss are not just business, but the city's visitors, and the city centre residents.

Air quality, road safety, and traffic management will all suffer - and that means city centre residents and all who for whatever reason visit the central area.

I favour a large scheme on the edge of town at its northern approach. But such a scheme can only be justified if it is linked to a radical proposal for rescaling city centre parking and remodelling important areas of the centre in favour of the pedestrian. Labour's scheme was linked to a fairly limited bus-based Rapid Transport System, servicing a number of key seafront venues. That was not enough. It was inadequate.

A bit by bit approach to increasing pedestrian priority areas in the city must at some point turn revolutionary in the way something like that proposed by Anthony Seldon in his book, Brave New City. Until that happens gridlock and more and more air pollution hover on our horizon.

Over the last decade or so hundreds of thousands of pounds, probably millions, have been spent (given to consultants) reviewing sites for possible park and ride schemes. It ain't cheap. And all we have to show for it is the make-do-and-mend scheme at Withdean.