10:00am Friday 30th July 2010
By Kevin Dyer
I actually believe some councils have shares in the companies that make paving blocks and that they are hell-bent on turning huge swathers of the country into a multi-coloured walkway.
The latest potential victims of pedestrianisation are the businesses in Market Square, Bicester, as the bureaucrats there have decided that it might be a good idea to close the square to regular traffic.
Why is it that the council ignores the needs of a booming population by failing to provide essential amenities, but will happily waste our cash to transform busy trading areas into economic wastelands?
Imagine what it would be like to be the owner of a takeaway or restaurant looking out on to an empty expanse of children’s building blocks waiting in vain for customers.
What about when you fancy a quick trip to town for a takeaway? You’ll have to park miles away in an overpriced car park and by the time you get to the chippy you’ll be hungry enough to eat roadkill. Maybe it’s a conspiracy to ensure our food is stone cold by the time we get home.
When will councillors realise that restricting traffic in and out of town centres is not an ecological success but in fact an economic disaster?
Wake up – people drive cars, they’re not going to stop, and the car industry is so important that governments will prop it up in times of recession.
The lentil-munching tree-huggers and ramblers might think it’s a good idea but they’re not exactly a rich source of income for local commerce.
The only things they park are their bikes and their bums as they sip from their flasks and eat packed lunches.
Now simple maths would tell you that spending £1m to stop traffic that currently brings in revenue to the tune of about £90,000 a year in parking fees alone is a bit of a silly idea.
Not to mention the revenue lost by the businesses that will suffer from what is just another stealth attack on motorists by the anti-car lobby.
There are family businesses on and around Market Square that have been part of the fabric of Bicester for much longer than the goldfish memory span of the average councillor.
Many have also disappeared in recent years due to recession and the last thing they need is to have their main revenue stream prevented from reaching them in favour of another multi-coloured paved desert full of solicitors offices, charity shops and boarded-up buildings.
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