A petition against Mid Sussex District Council's proposed parking fee increases launched by Burgess Hill Residents Association and Burgess Hill Business Association, both sub-groups of Burgess Hill Together, has surpassed 2,800 signatures. On Wednesday 28th February Liberal Democrats, an Independents group and Greens voted through the proposed 2024/25 budget that includes an increase in parking fees as well as the extension of evening fees and removal of free Sunday parking. The plan proposes a 10% increase in Burgess Hill, a 20% increase in Haywards Heath and a 30% increase in East Grinstead. Villages are still granted free parking and will receive a public consultation towns did not get at a later date.
Conservative opposition to the proposed changes was unanimous; all the party's councillors on the District Council either abstained or voted against the proposed budget. Two Burgess Hill ward representatives on the District Council - Mustak Miah (Dunstall, Conservative) and Peter Chapman (Victoria, Independent) voted against the charges. Peter commented in a Burgess Hill Uncovered report that it marked a visible rift in what appeared to be amicable relations between the two parties after the new council was formed following the May 2023 local elections. The extended charges mean that it will no longer be free to use MSDC carparks in Burgess Hill from 6 - 8 PM. The proposed evening charges would immediately impact many restaurants, cafes and pubs in the town centre. It would also impact community events in the evenings and on Sundays as well as community groups meeting in Cyprus Hall.
A particular source of disappointment to the Residents Association and Business Association was the lack of opposition coming from Burgess Hill Town Council. In the Open Forum segment of the Town Council meeting on Monday 4th March, a resident asked if councillors not on the District Council supported the charges. Only one councillor made clear that they opposed the proposed fee increases and extended hours, and the rest of the councillors either remained silent or showed their support of the proposed budget, with justification ranging from predictions about the way the high street is going (despite lack of engagement with local businesses affected) to lack of funding from central government. Despite councillors voting through 10% pay rises shortly after the May 2023 election, this was also used as justification for the charges in the District Council meeting, where it was also suggested that those looking for free parking options could park in the streets. Residential roads would likely be impacted by even minimal increases in what have thus far been free parking hours, which would arguably encourage visitors to the town centre in the evenings and on Sundays to simply park in a nearby residential road instead.
The shift of attitude at the Burgess Hill Town Council showed a marked difference from previous proposals by Liberal Democrat leadership of free parking hours to support the market. A poll conducted on the Save Our Town Facebook group found that the vast majority of the 122 who voted either did not now about the previous free parking initiative or did but found it overly complicated to claim reimbursement from the Town Council. In 2019 the Town Council also proposed free parking periods in the McDonalds carpark to ease the strain on the adjacent roundabout. After the local elections and where supporting local businesses is concerned, however, empathy and support is lacking.
Blame was promptly shifted onto the previous administration for first proposing the changes. Conservative councillors on the Mid Sussex says NO to Evening and Sunday Parking Charges Facebook were quick to stress, however, that the previous proposal called for a 10% increase across the board and did not include the scrapping of free evening and Sunday parking hours. Opposition suggested an alternate proposal along the same lines with scope to assess alternative funding options to make up the shortfall.
Kieran James, co-founder of Burgess Hill Together and member of the Burgess Hill Business Association and Burgess Hill Residents Association, co-organised the petition in immediate response to the vote going through. Both businesses and residents were very proactive in getting the petition signed with the end goal of having enough signatures to trigger a debate at MSDC. With the number of signatures well exceeding the target and more to collect and count, Kieran submitted the 2,800 signatures together with Peter Chapman and Residents Association member Hilary Sharpe to hand them in at MSDC on Monday 25th of March. East Grinstead put in a total of 5,215 signatures putting the current total handed in up to 8,045, with a few hundred left still to hand in on an additional run.
The response from MSDC is that they cannot debate the petition yet because of Purdah rules, despite there being no District Council election in the imminent future (only the 2024 General Election and the May by-election for two Burgess Hill Town Council seats). We are hoping for a debate at the next general MSDC meeting in May and there are also grounds for arguing that there should be a public consultation regarding the proposed extended fees in the evenings at at weekends.
