Subject: Park & Ride
Date of meeting: 23 January 2025
Report of: Cabinet Member for Transport, Parking & Public Realm
Contact Officer: Name: Andrew Westwood – Head of Transport Projects & Engineering
Tel: 01273 292468
Email: andrew.westwood@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
Key Decision: Yes
Reason(s) Key: It is significant in terms of its effect on communities living
or working in an area comprising of two or more wards.
1. Purpose of the report and policy context
1.1 This report sets out strategic options for how Park & Ride (P&R) can be delivered for the city.
1.2 The creation of a P&R facility will directly support the delivery of the Council Plan, particularly Outcome 1 - A city to be proud of – and the sub-outcomes: an accessible, clean and sustainable city, making it easier for people to move around.
2. Recommendations
3. Context and background information
Policy context and current situation
3.1 P&R is recognised as a tool which can help deliver our transport policy objectives of reducing congestion, and the associated vehicle emissions, on key routes to, and within the city centre. Various council policies are written to facilitate or support the creation of a P&R facility including; CP9 of City Plan Part 1, DM34 of City Plan Part 2, and the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). Early work on the direction of travel for the Local Transport Plan 5 also includes strategic Mobility Hubs as a key policy intervention. P&R is supported by Council Plan (2023-2027) Outcome 1 – A city to be proud of – and sub-outcome ‘Make it easier for people to move around the city.’ At the regional level Transport for the South East’s (TfSE’s) Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) also supports the creation of strategic Mobility Hubs on the edge of Brighton & Hove.
3.2 Currently a P&R facility is based at the Withdean Sports Complex, in a northern suburb of the city. The car park has around 225 spaces, which serves the sports complex, associated pub and is sign-posted as a P&R for those wishing to access the city using the local 27 bus service. P&R also operates from the racecourse and Mill Road to the Amex stadium when Brighton & Hove Albion play at home.
3.3 Officers have assessed three strategic options for how additional P&R spaces can be delivered as set out in the table below. A purpose-built facility would typically have 500 - 1,200 spaces, be located at the edge of the city’s built-up area and have a high frequency bus service of 6 buses per hour.
|
Option |
Opportunities |
Risks |
Recommendation |
|
1.Purpose Built P&R |
Large site and high-quality facilities. Offers choice for those driving. |
High cost. Challenging to deliver Planning issues – South Downs National Park. Requires capital grant to fund. |
Continue to pursue |
|
2.Existing car parks |
Flexible Low cost Scalable model Offers chose to those driving |
Dependant on landowner co-operation. Sub-optimal size/ location. Dependant on bus company co-operation. Quality of P&R experience. |
Proceed and deliver first site by summer 2025, scalable model for other sites |
|
3.Do nothing |
No cost |
City centre congestion. Lack of driver choice. |
Not recommended unless other options exhausted. |
Table 1: strategic options considered for P&R delivery
Option 1 - Purpose-built Park and Ride
3.4 Feasibility work, largely focused on identifying sites, for a purpose-built P&R facility at the edge of the city dates back more than 20 years. Delivery of a purpose-built P&R facility cannot be achieved within the next two years, although it remains a long-term goal. It will require significant capital sums and the development of a business case demonstrating that it is a project that delivers value for money. Business cases are typically created in three stages; a Strategic Outline Business Case, an Outline Business Case and Full Business Case. We have secured £50,000 of funding from TfSE to undertake work that will form part of the Strategic Outline Business Case.
Option 2 - Existing car parks & bus services
3.5 Several examples exist at other Local Authorities, where P&R facilities were initially launched at existing car parks and this supported the case for creating a purpose built P&R. Both Oxford and Portsmouth, which now operate purpose-built sites, began P&R schemes this way. Using existing car parks for P&R can be delivered much more rapidly than a purpose built facility. It can also inform how a purpose built scheme should operate.
3.6 While the Council owns some car parks that could be used for P&R we are also looking to work with third party landowners with suitably large car parks, as well as other stakeholders such as bus operators and Network Rail. These discussions are commercially confidential. The part 2 report contains an appendix setting out which sites are within scope. Sites have been grouped by transport corridor into the city and then ranked according to their potential. The first site is anticipated to be delivered by July 2025.
3.7 Using existing parking sites for P&R in Brighton & Hove will require software development, to deliver journey planning and integrated ticketing. We are in continuing discussions with incumbent and potential suppliers in order to facilitate this element, this broadly includes payment mechanisms, ANPR and car park capacity information for customers, information and signage.
3.8 Transport operators such as bus companies, rail and cycle hire often have
their own technology platforms they are willing to adapt or share with the Council. Extensive marketing and communication is key for success as well as directing users as efficiently as possible to P&R sites with clear, visible signage. Future potential also exists to create Electric Vehicle Charging Hubs within suitable P&R sites to attract a higher proportion of sustainable journeys to the city.
3.9 We aim to establish a model for pricing, ticketing and customer information at an initial P&R site in summer 2025. This will be scalable to other locations in the city. Monitoring and evaluation of the summer 2025 P&R operation will produce lessons learned that can feed in to other sites as well as the business case for a purpose built site.
3.10 We will continue reviewing other cities’ P&R models to inform our approach in both the existing car park and purpose built model. Useful examples exist in Portsmouth Southampton and Bournemouth. Portsmouth’s purpose built P&R facility focuses on serving the visitor rather than commuter market. Southampton use an existing edge of city car park to operate a P&R using existing bus services to a key employment site. In 2021 Bournemouth began operating seasonal P&R facilities from two existing car parks during the busy summer months.
3.11 The potential of event-based P&R will also be explored, building on the
strong existing examples in the city of the AmEx P&R sites. This can build on existing work being undertaken as part of the Parking Review (brought to Cabinet in September 2024) such as re-naming car parks after close-by attractions to promote their use by visitors and making better use of existing car parks. Technology and innovation plays a key role in this for example linking to smart signage for city visitors regarding car park availability and app-based advance booking systems for P&R sites; and this will be considered as work continues on event-based and P&R solutions.
3.12 In addition to funding secured for work on creating a business case for a
purpose-built P&R via TfSE, we have also submitted a request to the DfT to use £75,000 of BSIP funding for the delivery of existing car park P&R sites. This would focus on the necessary technology and marketing solutions to bring P&R forward.
3.13 Subject to the extent to which potential partners wish to explore the
opportunity to host P&R from their sites, further considerations will include the levels of investment required to carry out further development work including; access points/parking layout/waiting facilities/bus services and infrastructure, and confirming an appropriate pricing and ticketing structure. The need for any planning permission and/or legal agreements will also be a key consideration.
Timeline
3.14 It is planned to bring forward the first existing car park P&R site by July 2025 to enable testing and learning that may utilise existing technology to begin with that can be supplemented with specific apps or shared platforms with partners or developed in-house. Within the next two years we plan to bring more P&R sites into the scheme to develop a strategic network of P&R.
4. Analysis and consideration of alternative options
4.1 Previous work on P&R has focused on long term options for a purpose-built site, taking into account the environmental, planning and transport constraints.
4.2 While this work continues, the focus is now on existing car park P&R for the city in order to enable this key project to move forward. Additionally, the existing car park sites will ensure key lessons learned can be fed into the longer-term proposals.
4.3 Do Nothing is also an option however this would not offer alternative travel choices for those who need to travel by car to the city, or help with the wider policy objectives mentioned in this report.
.
5. Community engagement and consultation
5.1 If and when viable sites for a purpose-built P&R facility are identified we will carry out a full public consultation. We continue to work with officers from the South Downs National Park Authority, as they are a key stakeholder, regarding potential implications of purpose-built P&R in the city.
5.2 Officers have contacted representatives of organisations who own or
operate car parks that could provide existing car park P&R opportunities, and the B&H bus company, to progress discussions. Discussions will also be held at the city’s Transport & Travel Partnership, which involves key strategic stakeholders for the city. A wider public call to identify existing car parks was publicised on 6 November.
7. Financial implications
7.1 The financial implications associated with this work are largely dependent on whether a council owned or third-party site is taken forward. £150k has been identified in the 2025/2026 financial plan under the line Revenue Support for feasibility of Park and Ride. An assessment of costs for council owned sites is ongoing but it is anticipated this sum will be sufficient if this option is taken forward.
7.2 Following the submission of an Expression of Interest, officers have secured £50,000 from a scheme development fund managed by TfSE that must focus on the business case for purpose-built P&R in the areas identified in their Strategic Implementation Plan. TfSE expect the funding to be spent by the end of 2024/25.
The submitted request to the DfT to use £75,000 of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding for the delivery of P&R facilities, alongside existing actions from the Parking Review, will focus on the necessary technology and marketing solutions to enable P&R. Should this request be rejected, alternative funding would need to be identified. As sites are brought forward for existing car park P&R, further considerations including potential capital investment to ensure the sites are functional for P&R would need to be considered.
7.3 Full implications of existing car park P&R will be reviewed at a future cabinet meeting.
Name of finance officer consulted: John Lack Date consulted (17/12/24):
8. Legal implications
8.1 There are no direct legal implications associated with this initial work to
move forward with the new approach to delivering P&R at existing car park sites. Specific legal issues may arise when specific sites are brought forward.
Name of lawyer consulted: Katie Kam Date consulted (17/12/24):
9. Equalities implications
9.1 Providing more P&R spaces to serve the city centre will increase transport
choices and create more space on key routes for active travel and safer mobility by reducing traffic within central areas. Site specific impact assessments will be carried out as the business case continues to advance. Some existing car park P&R sites may not fulfil all equalities criteria and the approach will be to combine as many sites as possible to enable choices and full access to the scheme.
10. Sustainability implications
10.1 The citizens’ Climate Assembly in 2020 highlighted the priority accorded to
providing P&R for the city in order to assist in reducing carbon emissions. Reducing vehicles within the city centre will also help improve air quality and encourage greater use of sustainable travel options.
11. Health and Wellbeing Implications:
11.1 Reductions in the number of vehicles entering and leaving the central area will reduce the daily impacts of those vehicles and improve traffic flows on key routes and therefore reduce the associated emissions and noise. This will assist in creating quieter and cleaner environments that will reduce the impacts of traffic on people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing.
11.2 The provision of P&R in the city would offer additional choices to those needing to use a car to visit the city, and would offer opportunities for increasing levels of physical activity via walking, wheeling and cycling. This is in line with the Joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy (2019-2030) key area for action: ‘Brighton & Hove will be a place which helps people to be healthy.’ This is further supported by the Physical Activity Strategy 2024-2034 ‘Let’s get moving’, within which ‘Active Environments’ are a key priority, ensuring that built environments offer safe, accessible spaces that encourage people to be more active.
Other Implications
12. Procurement implications
12.1 There are no immediate procurement implications associated with this report. The need for further detailed work or commissioning relevant suppliers would be subject to progressing an individual sites(s).
12.2 Progression of the work with TfSE to assess strategic locations for a purpose-built P&R model will be subject to the completion of an agreed study brief and procurement process for consultants. This will be conducted either via the council’s professional services contract or using a procurement method via TfSE. The aim is to have the work completed by April/May 2025.
13. Conclusion
13.1 This report sets out a proposed approach for delivering more P&R spaces in the city, building on key examples from other towns and cities. Cabinet is asked to delegate authority to deliver existing car park P&R sites with key partners in the city, this work would take place concurrently with further Business Case work on purpose-built P&R sites.
Supporting Documentation
1. Appendices
Map and table of sites in scope (part 2 report- copy circulated to Members only).
2. Background documents
1. Park & Ride site study (Jacobs consultants)
2. City Plan Parts 1 and 2
3. LTP5 Direction of Travel document