A NEW parking scheme will add to traffic problems in Hove, critics fear.

Pay-and-display is being introduced on Hove seafront for the first time from April 1. Five solar-powered pay-and-display machines will be installed to cover 126 spaces on the south side of Kingsway between the Peace Statue and Fourth Avenue. Charges will be 60p for two hours, £1.80 for four hours, £3.10 for six hours and £3.80 for nine hours during the summer. Winter tariffs will be 60p for two hours, £1.50 for four hours and £2.10 for nine hours. Brighton and Hove environment chairman Neil Robinson said: "The scheme will work in exactly the same way as it does in Madeira Drive. "It is a system that is familiar to motorists countrywide and one they find easy to use." But some residents fear the move could make it more difficult for them to park near their homes. Emina Manenti, 26, of Second Avenue, said: "Some people who are parking on the seafront at the moment will try to park here instead when the pay-and-display starts, so that's going to add to the chaos. "Most of us don't have a garage and there's no residents' parking here, so where are we supposed to park?" Media celebrity Derek Jameson, who lives near the new pay-and-display zone, said: "It's a necessary evil to raise revenue for the council. "One of the reasons I came to Hove was the pleasant lack of parking restrictions. It's the price we have to pay for merging with Brighton, who have had parking restrictions for years."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.