The three hardest places to park in Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove's zones M, Y and Z are categorised as in “high demand” due to their central location. They are the only zones with waiting lists, and sizeable ones at that.

Residents who signed up in recent months have found themselves 500th in the queue and waiting as long as nine months before getting to the front.

The areas are small in size but densely populated with regency townhouses converted into HMOs (houses in multiple occupancy), which means single properties often have multiple drivers.

Even if you manage to get your hands on a much-coveted permit, that won’t guarantee you a space. One resident of zone M, which seems to be the most over-subscribed, described the situation as “an absolute nightmare.”

He said: “I’ve come back later in the evening from work and had to drive around the zone for half an hour looking for a space and up against four other cars also looking for the one remaining spot.

“What made it worse was the fact there were about five estate agents in the area who would all park in the surrounding streets.”

Zones M, Y and Z are in high demand due to their central location and high population (Image: Open Street Map) Another resident said: "I've been waiting for over a month and I'm still 425th in the queue for a parking permit. It's frustrating that there's no longer a parking office at the council that can help. Especially when you are only allowed 50 day permits a year.

"The parking system in zone M feels out of touch with the needs of its residents."

Councillor Trevor Muten, Cabinet member for Transport, Parking and Public Realm, said: “We absolutely appreciate waiting for a parking permit can be a frustrating experience and are acting decisively to address these very concerns.

“At present parking permits can only be offered to residents on our waiting list when another resident gives their permit up or does not renew. We are not able to control how regularly this happens.

“We are committed to finding solutions to this problem though. This is why we recently commissioned a full citywide review of our parking services. This has now been published as part of a wider review on parking report going to Cabinet and includes a range of recommendations and suggestions to improve this situation and other parking pressures across the city.

“Our review has already identified dozens of new parking spaces in city centre parking zones and we’re taking other practical steps, such as reducing prices and introducing new tariffs, which will encourage more people to our under-used car parks and reduce the pressure on on-street parking.

“We are doing all we can to reduce the time residents spend waiting for a permit. A final decision on further recommendations made in the parking review will be taken next week.  

“In the meantime, we would also always encourage any resident who no longer requires their parking permit to let us know so we can reallocate it to someone on the waiting list.”