There are many large European cities where visitors can drive right into the centre and park underground. So the Tory idea of copying this in Brighton and Hove is not self-evidently wrong. What may be wrong is the assumption the city has a major congestion problem that requires this kind of large-scale and inevitably private investment for profit.

It is arguable that much "congestion" here is created and maintained by Brighton and Hove City Council because there is money to be made from it.

If you walk around the city, there are many areas where the roadsides are remarkably free of cars. These are often areas where the council has created inappropriate restrictions - notably, reserving spaces for residents where there are no residents who qualify for or want them. Car ownership in Brighton and Hove is apparently well below the national average. Passing motorists will be tempted to use these vacant spaces and this nets the council £30 a time from penalty tickets.

In some areas, the streets are wide enough to allow echelon parking, effectively doubling the amount of parking space. The council appears to have very little enthusiasm for this because any increase in parking space would cut into the profitability of the penalty notice goldmine.

Likewise, the council appears to have no serious enthusiasm for park-and-ride schemes because it is committed to maximising profit from city-centre kerbside space. The council, with its partner NCP, wants the cars to come in so it can charge and, preferably, penalise the drivers for parking them. After all, if the cars stopped coming and all the visitors came down by train, as they used to, there would be serious financial difficulties for the council-NCP public-private partnership.

Except in a limited number of areas and at limited periods such as Bank Holidays, there is probably room enough for all the cars - and bicycles, buses, taxis and emergency vehicles too. You simply abolish 90 per cent of the restrictions, unhesitatingly tow away cars causing obstruction and promptly crush those that have been abandoned. You give up the pretences about double yellow lines - if disabled people can park on them, so can everyone else. You offer remedial lessons in how to park a car to all those who cannot manoeuvre one into anything less than three spaces. You keep reminding people bus services here are good and getting better. And you plead with the Government for better railways.

At times, there will still be problems. That's called city life. But the alternatives being pursued are well on the way to damaging both city life and the city's economy.

Trevor Pateman

-Dolphin Court, Hove