Seafront traders are warning a new parking scheme will cost

hundreds of pounds in lost custom.

Business owners on Brighton beach claim the pay and display parking bays in Marine Parade are driving away visitors because of the extra charge near the seafront.

They also fear the charges will force a cut back in delivery services offered out of the Kings Road Arches because of the impact on day-to-day costs.

The parking charges apply between Atlingworth Street and Burlington Street with drivers arriving between 9am and 6pm having to pay up to £9 to park for the day.

The stretch of road was one of the few remaining sites close to the seafront which offered free parking until April when Brighton and Hove City Council introduced the Queen's Park central parking zone.

Brighton Watersports owner Adam Chinery claims the charges leave seafront traders with little or no parking close to their businesses and mean forking out more than £250 a month to leave their cars on Marine Parade.

Mr Chinery, the Seafront Association chairman, said: "I have to make six or seven deliveries a day, collecting equipment from the shop and take it to customers.

"If they change the rest of Marine Parade I will have nowhere to park and will have to stop doing deliveries. It is costing just under £70 a week to park now - who can afford that?"

The Queen's Park zone has recently come under fire from Kemp Town traders who claim charges in Edward Street, George Street and St James's Street are driving out customers and triggering a massive decline in business.

But the city council says the scheme will improve traffic congestion.

Chairwoman of Brighton and Hove's environment committee, Councillor Gill Mitchell, said: "Businesses along the south coast have said they lose £250 million a year because of delays in moving goods and people.

"Without free-flowing traffic, businesses suffer delays in delivering their goods and services."

The council says the parking zone would be reviewed in six months.