MR PETERS quite rightly says in his recent letter that to improve town centre trading the car parking charges must be dropped.
At the moment these amount to a tax on anyone buying anything from the (mainly) small shops in the town centre.
One does not go into the town centre for a main weekly shop, but for smaller items. One has to pay about £4 to park in the Arndale Centre, or £4 on bus fares, or perhaps twice this for taxi fares both ways.
It was said at the time the charges were introduced they would kill off the town centre and now the council is acting as though surprised at the number of empty shops.
As far as the extension of the Arndale Centre is concerned, more shops in the area is going to mean more tills competing for the same money unless someone can find extra money in their pay packet each week!
It would appear from the artist’s impression of the proposed extension there will be another square concrete block like the Congress or the Towner in the middle of our town centre!
The present ‘consultation’ on the matter means the same as consultations always do – ie. decide what you are going to do, let the public let off steam about it and then do what you were intending to do all the time.
If 99 people are against the intention it is surprising the 100th person’s view is the one cited (and how strange that his name is usually given as Mr Public Opinion!)