Thousands of people have been unable to renew their parking permits, according to a councillor.
Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth flagged up their problems after hearing about people affected by delays when trying to use Brighton and Hove City Council’s new system.
He first raised the issue at a meeting of the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee in June.
He was told that parking permit renewals were being moved to the council’s My Account system to benefit residents.
The aim was an online one-stop shop for council tax, recycling, schools and parking permits.
The new system was trialled with people on the permit waiting list and then with those in areas with “light touch” parking schemes.
As the new system was introduced, two IT issues were identified and fixed, councillors were told.
The council said at the time:
“Parking staff are currently working hard to help customers resolve these issues.
“The grace period for permits was extended when it was clear that not all permit applications had been resolved and the small number of penalty charge notices issued before this have been cancelled.”
But there are still problems, with people in neighbourhood social media groups across Brighton and Hove sharing their complaints about the system.
In the past two weeks, people have posted grumbles on Facebook groups for the Seven Dials, Fiveways, Kemp Town and across Brighton.
They have complained about paying for permits but not receiving them – just a confirmation email followed by parking tickets.
The same council committee met today (Tuesday 21 September) and Councillor Nemeth said that he could not count how many people had contacted him about parking permits problems.
He also had a particular concern for those who could not access the website.
Councillor Nemeth said:
“What assistance has the council been giving to the thousands of vulnerable residents who have found it impossible to renew their parking permits in recent months and since I raised the subject at the June meeting of this committee?”
Green councillor Amy Heley, who chairs the committee, said that the council had trebled the number of staff working on the accessibility line to help people access the online system.
Parking staff were also completing applications on behalf of those who were unable to do so themselves.
Residents who cannot access the website can post their applications to the council or use a dropbox outside Hove Town Hall, councillors were told.
The council’s assistant director for transport Mark Prior said that he was working on the issue every day with the head of parking services because there were several problems with IT – and the post office.
He said:
“There are issues with the council platform that matches the database that ensures permits are allocated fairly and effectively across the city.
“There are many issues – and the team has drawn in additional resources to target this fairly and effectively across the city.
“This is a key issue and we are managing this daily at the very highest level.”
He said that both the council’s chief executive Geoff Raw and Nick Hibberd, the executive director for the economy, environment and culture, were monitoring the situation as it was a “troubling issue”.
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