Parking sting

To the Richmond Informer, 17th November 2008

Dear Sir

Thank you for highlighting Richmond Council's obsession with fining motorists in this week's edition of the Informer. The obsessive way in which the council is employing parking wardens and mobile and fixed cameras is now getting out of hand.

As well as pushing shoppers away from local family-owned businesses to bigger supermarkets that have free parking, the environmental effects of this policy is actually more detrimental, as cars drive in circles trying to find a parking space from an ever-decreasing pool.

Passing trade is vital to the survival of our unique high streets and it is short-sighted for Cllr Lourie and his colleagues to make Richmond Borough a less competitive place to do business than our surrounding neighbours.

It is time for us to look more broadly at the use of bus lanes and yellow lines in the borough - if the aim is to penalise drivers, the real victims may be our small business owners, as motorists go elsewhere to do their shopping.

Deborah Thomas
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Twickenham

Deborah Thomas Contact me
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