Drivers to be charged more for parking on sunny days

Brighton Wheel, Brighton, East Sussex, England

Holidaymakers visiting Brighton on sunny summer days could pay more for parking as the seaside city plans to bring in flexible parking charges.

Councillors have suggested motorists be charged less for parking on Brighton and Hove's streets on rainy days throughout the summer.

The scheme would be the first of its kind in Britain and is modelled on flexible parking charges schemes in Madrid and San Francisco, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The proposal is part of the local Conservative Party manifesto for the May 7 council elections.

According to the Daily Mail, it reads: "We will examine flexible parking charges and the innovative use of technology, e.g. introduce significantly cheaper charges in winter, on rainy summer days etc.

"It is bizarre that summer parking rates begin on 1 March. Under the Conservatives summer parking charges will only apply in summer."

Conservative transport spokesman Graham Cox told the Daily Telegraph: "If it's a lovely, hot, summer day in June, July or August, the queues in Brighton will stretch up the A23 and every space in town is taken. If it's wet, it's a very different situation."

But the RAC criticised the proposal and spokesman Pete Williams told the Telegraph: "The idea that you can stipulate a charge based on the vagaries of the English summer weather, sounds more like an early April Fools' joke than a serious election pledge."

Earlier in March, Brighton started removing half of the on-street parking meters as part of cost-cutting measures. The council said it would save £250,000 a year by asking drivers to pay by phone or in shops instead.

The process of removing the meters is due to be completed by June and the savings will come from reduced maintenance and cash-collecting costs.