Graham Howson is right to ask Tony Mernagh and other councillors to state whether they are planning to reduce city-centre parking as part of an integrated approach to local transport (Letters, July 30).

A study of leading cities by the Government's commission for integrated transport in March this year showed that, however good their public transport, the only cities which have actually reduced traffic are those which included a policy of restraining car use.

The study examined Paris, London, Moscow, New York, Singapore, Dublin and Zurich to identify what influenced travel patterns and which traffic-reduction measures were most effective.

It found car use increases in cities which don't have measures to prevent road space from filling up when some drivers decide to use public transport, even if those cities have made impressive improvements to public transport.

In Dublin and Zurich, public transport has improved but cars have not been restrained. In Dublin, bus use is up by 40 per cent since 1996 but car use has risen by 28 per cent in the same period. Zurich, with its excellent public transport system, has doubled its use during 14 years but car use is still rising by four per cent a year.

As some people forego their cars in favour of public transport, more cars rush in to fill the space they leave behind. The "carrot" of better public transport doesn't work without the "stick" of reduced parking.

We need to strike a balance between streets used as traffic routes and streets used as living spaces. Streets are a resource which belongs to us all - not just the minority, sitting in their cars.

We need to re-balance the use of streets to return them to their original purpose - something we are all entitled to use.

The chair of the commission for integrated transport, professor David Begg, recognised this when he said: "At some point, people are just going to have to realise there is a finite limit to the number of cars which any city can accommodate."

It's time Brighton and Hove's movers and shakers woke up to this, recognised that demand for car travel is limitless and took a lead by putting the needs of those who happen not to be in cars before the minority who are, so we can all enjoy this fantastic city.

-Stephen Young, Living Streets, www.livingstreets.org.uk, Hove