It's about time some order was made out of the chaos that parking has become in Eastbourne. It's bad for trade, and it should have all been sorted long ago.

I listened to the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 that devoted a whole half hour to Eastbourne Parking. It was striking that everyone who called in from outside Eastbourne liked the sound of park 'anywhere, anytime, for as long as you want', but everyone from Eastbourne, who actually has to put up with the madness, slated it.

I've always been of the view that, given the finite, limited amount of parking spaces, and the fact that there are more and more cars on the road, it's obvious that something needs to be done. Doing nothing became not an option years ago.

In fact next year Eastbourne will have its 10th anniversary of talking about a parking scheme, but not being able to actually organize having one. In the meantime traders have found it increasingly difficult to get their customers in and out of their shops.

The thing about a parking scheme is that, in the end, it's the least bad option. Generally, people accept a small, fair charge, with reasonable enforcement - they just don't want to be ripped off. After all every other town and city in the country has such a scheme.

Let me give you an example from a hospital parking scheme.

Last week I had to pay a fiver for the privilege of parking on West Suffolk Hospital's manky old bit of broken tarmac for a total of 40 minutes (over 2 visits). Had there been a smaller charge for staying, say half an hour, I wouldn't have felt ripped off. But I had no choice but to pay £2.50 for a 20 minute stay. Twice.

That's the bottom line. Charge a fair amount (i.e. a small amount to cover costs, not make a profit), give good alternatives (park and ride, specific commuter parking areas etc), and enforce that effectively. Job done.

Tennis

What great news that the Eastbourne tournament will continue – indeed expand! As I predicted at the New Year, the tournament has been saved, and there is plenty of good reason why Eastbourne should be celebrating this good news. It's the biggest 'shop window' we have in terms of national coverage, and its loss would have been a disaster.

Cllr Tutt

I bumped into Council Leader David Tutt outside Asda this weekend. He was crowing over the tennis reprieve – quite right too, so would I have been.

David is the most experienced Lib Dem councillor in town, and he has a huge job overseeing his gang of inexperienced ones. Politically of course we differ in many areas - but I have never questioned his commitment to the town. Indeed he's served on Eastbourne Council on and off for nearly 20 years.

I often wonder what would happen if David Tutt was the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate instead of Stephen Lloyd.

Have a good week.