RAINY day parking prices could be coming to Brighton and Hove in the near future.

Flexible parking charges in response to the weather formed part of the Brighton and Hove Conservatives’ manifesto at the last election.

Now council officers have told the Tory leader that the proposals are being investigated and could be brought to the city in the future.

The move would see the city follow in the footsteps of San Francisco which has up to 5,000 variations in its city centre parking charges a year.

The proposals have also been assisted by a change in the law which allows for councils to reduce or offer free parking in areas without a traffic regulation order (TRO).

TROs can be a slow process requiring 21 days’ notice to the public which would have made it impossible to respond to sudden changes in weather.

Council officers said that TRO were still required to increase parking prices on a temporary basis but cllr Theobald said he was not interested in raising parking charges.

Council leader Warren Morgan told councillors this summer that the city was exploring options to use smart parking technology as used in San Francisco and Los Angeles but that it may not be brought in for another five or ten years.

In San Francisco “demand responsive pricing” varies the cost of parking on city streets depending on the availability of spaces.

It is designed to reduce the amount of time motorists spend driving around the city looking for a car parking space which raises air pollution, instead incentivising them to go where there are spaces.

Prices can range between 50 cents an hour up to $6.25 an hour depending on demand.

During a pilot in the city, more than 8,000 on-street wireless sensors monitor street spaces.

Cllr Theobald said: “In our manifesto we proposed varying parking charges dependent on the weather.

“It was treated as a little bit of a laugh but it caused quite a lot of interest.

“Other cities have taken these on board and taken them quite seriously.”

Brighton and Hove City Council officer said: “It is something we would like to investigate.

“Parking charges in San Francisco have 5,000 changes in a year.”