Fair trade?We need fair parking

As a resident of Mirfield may I suggest to Councillor Martin Bolt that if he wants people like me to support the campaign, he and his colleagues sort out the shambolic shoppers’ car parking facility in the centre of the town.

At 9.15am today there were only four bays available in this car park. Is that indicative of shoppers en masse descending upon the town? Far from it. The majority of owners of the parked vehicles will have departed for the day to Leeds or Huddersfield or elsewhere by train to go to work.

Furthermore there are traders themselves who frequently leave a vehicle in the car park despite having unrestricted parking close to their business premises.

By mid-morning, frequently, the car park is full, and where such is the case I travel further afield to do my shopping.

I don’t see this as an over difficult problem to solve, nor is it one where parking fees for all need to be introduced. Offer a contract to the same organisation managing the Co-Op’s car park, whereby, any vehicle left for more than, say, four hours, is ticketed and then clamped. That will undoubtedly resolve the problem, yet leave more than ample time for people to park, shop and use the facilities Mirfield has to offer. Fair parking equals Fairtrade!

R D WALKER

Hurst Lane

Mirfield