THE proposal to make Silver Street, Bury, into a one-lane system, with a consequent loss of parking spaces, is an idiotic one.
Is it entirely necessary to spend large sums of money to introduce more pedestrianisation into the town centre, and will there be a significant increase in pedestrian safety as a result? The answer, I think, is no.
The main disadvantage will be the loss of parking spaces convenient for a half-hour stop to dash to the library, whip round to the market, or pop into the bank.
Where will those parking spaces be relocated? Well, obviously, we'll be expected to fork out 70p at a car park near Angouleme Way or The Rock (which are the only ones with regularly available spaces), get wet and endure an extra walk across even busier streets than Silver Street.
What of the loss of £11,000 in parking fees? Will the council stand this? Don't make me laugh. They will just whack up the charges to 40p and 80p (which incidentally also covers inflation of about 15 per cent).
Will town hall officers suffer inconvenience from this move? No, because they can already do business in the town centre without looking for the rapidly disappearing spaces, which we have to do in a snatched half-hour from our working day.
At the moment I can usually slip into an empty space at the junction of Silver Street and Jubilee Way, but if that convenient spot disappears then I know of an out-of-Bury spot with a superstore, bank, library and petrol station and lots of free parking. I already use it and I'll use it a lot more if my fears are realised.
Incidentally, are the people who planned this the same ones who planned the cock-up which is the traffic system at the Bell Lane, Wash Lane and Moorgate junction?
JIM MURRAY,
Elton, Bury.
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