Argus Letters re Parking in Coldean

[Lord Bracknell]

I have just spent the night in various historic harbour taverns in Barcelona. I'm amazed I'm able to write this and the above.

I trust you stayed well clear of the Bar Zamora.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Yesssssssss? Very nice profile.

Pretentious tosspot well up his own arse......

How can you possibly be a pretentious tosspot and live in Coldean? It's bloody impossible.

 

[middletoenail]

Well I have learnt through a little facebook stalking that this guy goes to the same gym as me, has a problem with the Argus and the Greens - In fact, he is a serial whinger.

The power of the internet eh, perhaps he should spend more of his time securing his online identity?

 

[Deleted User X18H]

What I don't get and I will put my tin hat on , but why can people not use the vast array of Public Transport to get to the ground. Why have people still , after all that has been achieved, after all that we have now have, still selfishly have to piss off the poor sods of Coldean and Falmer. If someone turned up in your street every two weeks and blocked you driveway or nicked all the parking spaces in your street, would you be happy knowing that millions of pounds of subsidised public transport was available as an alternative?

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Well I have learnt through a little facebook stalking that this guy goes to the same gym as me, has a problem with the Argus and the Greens - In fact, he is a serial whinger.

The power of the internet eh, perhaps he should spend more of his time securing his online identity?

Yeah and I am sorry but you apparently live in Haywards Heath, so why should you disrupt this council tax paying Brightonians life, just because you don't want to use public transport?

 

[Mr Burns]

What I don't get and I will put my tin hat on , but why can people not use the vast array of Public Transport to get to the ground. Why have people still , after all that has been achieved, after all that we have now have, still selfishly have to piss off the poor sods of Coldean and Falmer. If someone turned up in your street every two weeks and blocked you driveway or nicked all the parking spaces in your street, would you be happy knowing that millions of pounds of subsidised public transport was available as an alternative?

Of course the streets around the Goldstone never filled up on match days. The streets around 90& of sports arenas in teh country dont fill up on match days. People that live near shopping centers dont see their street fill up more on Saturdays. Where your argumnet falls down, is no one is pissed off in Falmer as parking isnt allowed, and not many are pissed off in Coldean, because like I said before, and will say again, the parking situation in Coldean is not something your average resident wants to bring to everyones attention. A fact that I am sure will be pointed out to Michael Inkpin-Leissner of Ridge View Coldean, many many times over the next few days and weeks. God help him if his pointless moan brings double yellows to parts of Coldean. Because that's the only thing that will change it, as it is NOT a football issue.

 

[Brovion]

That's one way of looking at it. Equally you could say it will encourage folk to use public transport. I can see where you're coming from but on balance I'd say an all-inclusive ticket is preferable and will have greater impact. Selling seperate vouchers for each and every mode of transport isn't a workable option and currently penalises thousands of public transport users who purchased them as its impossible to collect them on the trains. It's not perfect but all-inclusive deal is the most workable option and will provide the best outcome on balance.

Spot on. Rather like putting the stadium at Falmer it isn't the ideal solution but it's the best available. Certainly for away fans it's essential.

[MENTION=25]Gwylan[/MENTION], did you think the vouchers for Withdean were a bad idea? I think they did play a significant part in getting people to use the bus and train, even if it did penalise those who walked (i.e. me). I was very disappointed when the scheme didn't transfer to the Amex as I was looking forward to using it. Currently my preferred method of getting to and from home games is to be dropped off and picked up.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Hove seafront residential roads are busy EVERY day from Easter to the end of August with day trippers & have been for a hundred years, let's stop any car movement when the sun is shining shall we?

 

[Gwylan]

[MENTION=25]Gwylan[/MENTION], did you think the vouchers for Withdean were a bad idea?

No, I didn't but it was a completely different situation. Withdean held about 8,000 people and was served by a station that could handle 12-carriage trains. In theory, every single supporter could have come by train or bus, so the vouchers worked.

Falmer is a different matter. We couldn't, with the present infrastructure, get 30,000 there solely by public transport and P&R. As expanding the station to cope with 12-carriage trains doesn't look plausible, there's going to be a need for people to come by car (and either park locally - Coldean or Moulsecoomb - or be dropped off) and to come on foot or on bike.

The club clearly recognises the latter part of this by offering incentives to cyclists and would, no doubt, offer incentives to pedestrians if there was a way of doing so.

 

[ROSM]

There are a number of missed tricks around the transport.

Firstly the vouchers. Any scheme which is seen as optional and non enforced will see those who do adhere, feeling let down when others don't.

I do support mandatory vouchers. It is possible to not penalise pedestrians and cyclists. By allowing those within a certain radius to be exempt and exchanging a travel voucher for a food/drink item or a programme for cyclists.

They could have billed a certain level for car parking and reduced with vouchers handed back.

And if people choose to drive and then park and walk then the cost of their voucher can be seen as offsetting the cost of monitoring coldean.

The issue now being seen in the argus is one of perception over reality. We know that matchday parking isn't the bug issue. We know most residents don't want a light shone on it. The current albion led consultation will help dispel some incorrect perceptions and allow the residents to choose what they want.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Hove seafront residential roads are busy EVERY day from Easter to the end of August with day trippers & have been for a hundred years, let's stop any car movement when the sun is shining shall we?

Yes but it's ALL permit parking around there i.e residents bays or pay and display. That won't work in Coldean for obvious reasons.

 

[slinky]

How can you possibly be a pretentious tosspot and live in Coldean? It's bloody impossible.

Am i reading that he is a German trolley dolly? FFS, surely he should be living in Kemptown rather than Coldean. I cannot see him being a regular in the Hikers lol

 

[LamieRobertson]

Sorry but i drive and park just off coldean lane...because i work (on saturdays) right up to the last possible moment)...by the time i arrive there are very few spaces...but i c few if any instances of illegal parking...there is also a car going round with 2 wardens in it...the whole thing imho is vastly overhyped....what are we talking about 23 times a year? excluding any other events...most of which will b well below capacity...pffft.

For a contrary view ..irrespective of the coldean issue how the extra 8k are going to get there...hmmm

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I trust you stayed well clear of the Bar Zamora.

Ha ha. I know the one you mean. I have walked past it a few times as it's in the rather salty El Raval area where me and Frau Tubthumper, and the other bars I mentioned, are based.

 

[portlock seagull]

The reason you need government i.e. the council to intervene is because people cannot agree - as this thread amply demonstrates. We just have to trust the experts do know what they're doing and are doing it for the right reasons (which I know isn't always the case)

Anyway, I've steered away from parking in Coldean opting to catch train from one of the A23 corridor railway stations after travelling down the M40, M25, M23. And similarly from using the Mill Road P&R because of the "horror stories" e.g. it's full up (and after driving nearly 2 hrs to a game, you don't want this to be the case!); or it can take an hour to get from AMEX to Mill Road or v.v. meaning you have a very long wait just to move approx 4 miles post game or miss kick-off even if you arrive at 6.30pm or 2pm pre-match.

Would appreciate an update from anyone if it's improved now, but NSC was full of such stories earlier in the season. But it does seem that moving "west or north to east" rather than "south to north" isn't especially well catered for in general direction terms.

 

[Notters]

The quote 'every single road in Coldean is filled with vehicles – parked on pedestrian walkways, blocking drives, blocking views in junctions, blocking ways for emergency vehicles like ambulances or fire brigade' has applied whenever I have been there - admittedly not often. Though each time that has been when there hasn't been a game on at the Amex.

But it's not true is it? Every single road? That must be tens of thousands of cars. And you're giving his letter credence by suggesting that it's true.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

We lived on Shirley Drive during the years I went to the Goldstone. I could always tell the approx size of the crowd by how far cars would park up the road. We lived right at the top end, near the shops, and if cars had got that far, it would be a bumper crowd. Police would put bollard all along one side of the road in the morning - all the way to Woodland Drive to keep one side of the road clear, but believe me, the roads around the Goldstone were packed on match days (and this at a time when there were considerably fewer cars on the road).

My suspicion is that there are people who park inconsiderately - some, probably not many - and these are the ones who allow the moaners to claim "people can't get access to their drive, unsafe etc etc". But whatever the case, this is not an issue for the football club.

 

[JCL666]

oh dear, twice a month for approximately 4 hours there are CARS parked in the ROAD..............


Has the cabin crew MENTOR who complained, ever tried to park ANYWHERE in Brighton?

 

[portlock seagull]

Sorry but i drive and park just off coldean lane...because i work (on saturdays) right up to the last possible moment)...by the time i arrive there are very few spaces...but i c few if any instances of illegal parking...there is also a car going round with 2 wardens in it...the whole thing imho is vastly overhyped....what are we talking about 23 times a year? excluding any other events...most of which will b well below capacity...pffft.

For a contrary view ..irrespective of the coldean issue how the extra 8k are going to get there...hmmm

I think this is likely to be the situation and in your circumstances it's the best solution as you say. And they'll be others similarly. I do think a lot of critics overlook the fact that not everyone's got Saturday off, can leisurely swan up to the Amex from near proximity etc. For some, a last minute rush to get to a match is the only solution. Are you not supposed to come unless you can afford to leave the house by 13.00 with only a few miles to travel?

Everyone will find their own way and of course if you can afford (in both time and money) to take local transport then you ought to. But it's not realistic to think that some won't park and walk up from local residential locations simply because, on any given day, they need that option. Until it becomes illegal to park outside someone's house where a double yellow line doesn't exist, local residents are in the same boat as all the rest of us who live near schools, hospitals, shops etc. And I'm afraid unless someone's blocking your drive or ruining the grass verges etc then you have to live with it. This country's packed, the SE especially, the average family of 4 including 2 grown up children (because they can't afford to move out) often has 4 cars when the house they live in has only a single garage/1 space driveway. It's why cul de sacs and streets up and down the country are now "littered" with cars. Everyone wants to drive, in part because there's few alternatives and where there are, they cost the earth. Sorry, bit of a tangent but there you go!

 

[Superphil]

The original letter says cars are parked illegally, if that Is the case, then the police/council can do something about it, simple. They do everywhere else in Brighton, and bloody quickly too, so why not tow, clamp and fine all these so called illegally parked cars, the message would soon get out. The residents can't have one rule for them and another for football fans/weekday workers/shoppers/tourists until such time as resident permits are introduced, I assume certain criteria has to be met for that, perhaps they should concentrate on getting that sorted, just like other areas in Brighton have.