This photograph shows a deserted council-owned car park in the heart of Brighton - as vehicles line surrounding streets and residents wait nine months for a permit.

The underground car park in Regency Square barely manages to fill one of its three levels on a regular basis.

Now the Regency Square Area Society, an action group, is calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to open the 510-space site to provide residential parking and bicycle rails. MPs and councillors are backing it.

Roger Hinton, the action group's chairman, said: "We have approached the council about opening up the car park for residential parking.

This would increase the number of spaces and maybe clear some of the streets."

The society is planning a study to find out how many cars use the car park on a weekly basis.

Regency ward Green councillor Sven Rufus said: "I appreciate the pressures of parking in some areas of the city and any chance of alleviating some of the stress by getting cars off the street is worth looking into."

He welcomed the suggestion that some of the space should be used to install bicycle rails.

He said: "Freeing up space on the road for more environmentally friendly transport is something the council is very interested in.

"Bicycles need to have as much infrastructure for parking as other modes of transport in order to encourage people to get out there on their bikes."

Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper said the move was worth considering.

He said: "If what they are saying is true, that there are often empty spaces in the car park which could be used by residents, I would certainly think that is something that needs to be looked at very carefully."

The Regency Square car park was built by the council but has been leased to NCP since 1991.

Mr Hinton said: "What's most annoying is taxpayers' money was used to build this car park and now it's the public being denied a return on their investment."

Helen Skinner, 24, of Regency Square, said: "It's annoying not being able to park my car near my house when there is all that space so close by. I hope the council will see sense and open it up for residential use."

A council spokesman said: "The Regency Square car park is currently managed by NCP.

"It does get full during events and at other peak times like the summer and Christmas so we need to have spaces available.We will keep an eye on the situation to ensure we offer the best service that we can."

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