Parking scheme is a threat to shops

Unnoticed by many over the summer, a process began that could decimate the distinctive area of Clarendon Park for ever.

With little fanfare, representatives of the council stood with clipboards selectively taking down the views of some of the people they spoke to. This was stage one of a consultation process that is aimed at bringing permit parking to the area, and risks forcing local businesses to move or close.

The process continues, but still without much public awareness.

While the council has spoken to residents via its proxies (though many did not receive their leaflet) it did not consult the local businesses, and for them the outlook is bleak.

The shops on and surrounding Queens Road rely on passing trade. A survey I have conducted shows more than 60 per cent face relocation or closure if the scheme is brought in. This is for them the difference between profit and loss, survival or failure.

For people across a wider area than is covered by the scheme, there are essential services here. With two local post offices closed in recent years, Queens Road has the last one many elderly people can access. The area is still somewhere you can buy vegetables that are not pre-packed, buy fresh meat and even get a key cut. It is a sustainable community of shops and businesses.

I implore local people who care about these shops to attend the public meeting at Avenue Road School tomorrow at 6.30pm to turn up and express their views. Tell your local councillors. Tell Councillor Kitterick who is pushing the scheme forward. Tell your Green councillors, so far indifferent to the process or its consequences.

Parking has been a problem in Clarendon Park for years. What's more it still will have, if permit parking is introduced.

But the area has not always had the wide range of shops it has now, and it certainly won't if permit parking is brought in.

Councillor Ross Grant, Knighton.