I work in the centre of Brighton and rarely use my car but recently had to. Inevitably, I had to circle endlessly to find a parking space.

After doing so, I walked the half mile to work while wondering how many of the cars I was passing at 8.30am belonged to people who had not yet left for work or those who had already arrived.

As I walked down Dorset Gardens, I counted about 40 cars parked there.

At my office, I got a calculator and worked out that these parking spaces generate, at nine hours per day, six days per week, £168,000 per year. And that's just one 150-yard-long street.

Multiply this figure by the most of the city's streets and the figure is enormous. Add to this total all the revenue generated by parking fines and it is a serious wedge of cash.

How much money do Brighton and Hove's parking permits raise and what is it spent on?

By the shabby look of much of the city centre, not on sprucing it up.

-Michael Bairstow, Brighton