Council has come to an arrangement with Hall Barn whereby common land will be swapped to create 45 parking spaces in London End. The idea behind this is to put in place parking controls to stop all day parking on some of the land and allow movement of vehicles so as to help the local shops and businesses in the Old Town. On the face of it, I am pleased that there is support to find a solution to increase the opportunity of visitors finding somewhere to park and thereby encourage people to come to the Old Town. This has been the problem for years.

However, I am extremely disappointed to now read that South Bucks District Council wants to charge for these new parking spaces, because they claim the need to recover the cost of painting in some lines. How much can this really cost and why can’t this be paid for from the council taxes? If you want to promote our local shops, you need to encourage potential shoppers, not discourage them by charging for parking; and just at a time when Hall Barn is investing in new retail units in the Old Town. The parking in these 45 new spaces must be free at times with time limits, for example 2 hours with no return for three hours. The Old Town is already in a Civil Enforcement Area with a private company contracted to provide traffic wardens who I am sure will be itching to hand out parking fines for those that overstay their welcome.

There have been a number of recent high profile studies that squarely point the blame for the demise of high street shopping at those local authorities that charge for parking. Why do you think successful shopping centres and supermarkets promote free parking, they want to attract business!

If the council is that hard pressed, I will be happy to look at raising the money myself to pay for the white lines, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to charge the motorist to park in Beaconsfield Old Town. — Simon Woolf, Beaconsfield