Great Missenden Parking - Letter published in the Bucks Examiner 21st February 2008

12.00.00am GMT Thu 21st Feb 2008

Dear Editor,

It is right in principle that local councils take appropriate steps to manage the impact of year on year traffic growth through local villages and subsequent parking pressures. This issue is particularly acute in Great Missenden which is dissected by a main A road and with its railway station attracting commuters from a wide area.

But Conservative Council proposals to end all free 1 hour parking on Link Road, High Street and Station Approach in Great Missenden are ill thought-out and unnecessary. They are driven entirely by the Conservatives' need to now "balance the books" following their decision to introduce the Special Parking Area, rather than any proper assessment of parking needs and pressures within the village.

There is clearly an urgent need for a proper review of parking in Great Missenden, so that the impact of decisions taken in one part of the village are not considered in isolation. For example, was any consideration given to the effect of the recent Parish Council decision to end all free 1 hour parking in the Link Road carpark from 1st April?

Not for the first time, the Conservative District Council has rushed out a series of proposals without any effort to actually talk to and listen to the people most affected by them. It is now vital that local residents, businesses and groups are consulted properly before any new proposals come forward. In the meantime, the current Conservative plan to end free 1 hour parking in Great Missenden should be scrapped with immediate effect.

Yours sincerely,

Seb Berry

Chairman

Great Missenden, Prestwood and Heath End Liberal Democrats