More home owners and traders have joined protests against proposed changes to Parking zones.

People from Seven Dials and the area around Montpelier Road say plans to replace Brighton and Hove's eight city centre parking zones with a north and south zone could drive down trade and edge residents out of parking bays.

Their concerns follow those of North Laine traders and residents, who believe the new zones could turn their roads into permanent car parks for shoppers.

Currently people need a specific permit for their area and there are long waiting lists for some densely populated zones. The merger would mean anyone living in the new North or South zones could buy permits to park anywhere else inside them.

Residents from all three areas met on Thursday night to discuss the proposals.

Steve Percy, chairman of the People's Parking Protest, said: "The zoning is just not on.

"The council thinks it will reduce the waiting lists by doing this and increase the ratio of spaces to people but they have got their calculations wrong."

Seven Dials homeowners at the meeting expressed concern the closeness of their properties to Brighton Station would encourage commuters to take up residents' bays.

Other proposed changes include ending free parking and voucher parking and replacing all two-hour and four-hour bays with shared residents' permit and pay and display bays and extending restrictions to Sundays.

Traders in Seven Dials said the zoning might mean people from outside the area would take up customers' spaces. They wanted short time limits with low charges placed on the pay and display spaces so cars could not hog spaces.

Restaurateurs were concerned about proposals to remove single yellow lines which they said would leave diners with no free parking in the evening. Brighton and Hove City Council sent out a questionnaire about the zoning which residents need to return by October 31.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "All concerns will be considered when looking at the review of the parking scheme consultation comments and a decision will be made in light of all the comments received."