Letter published by Sidmouth Herald March 2001, concerning proposed underground car parking.

A lamentable lacking

SIR

In an attempt to solve all Sidmouth's seasonal parking problems, Councillor Wale makes a laughable spectacle of himself by jumping on the "let's have an underground car park" band wagon, reported in the February 23 edition of the Sidmouth Herald. At the town council meeting, he bewailed the fact that Mr Wedderburn, yesteryear's Citizen, and his friends, had gone to considerable trouble to produce, at their own initiative, a scheme and estimate for a car park under the Sidmouth Cricket, Tennis, Croquet and Hockey Club. For the record, the scheme was very rudimentary, as was the estimate, and the authors knew the risks they were taking in proceeding with such wild speculation, quite a common practice in the construction industry in a preemptive attempt to get a foot in the door. Mr Wales' statements show a lamentable lack of relevant knowledge:-

1 The club has written to East Devon District Council informing them that it is not prepared to countenance any such underground development.

2 Any underground car park in the town would be a white elephant, causing irreparable environmental damage and making substantial financial losses outside the short, peak summer holiday season.

3 He chose to ignore the consultants (PB Kennedy and Donkin) study on Sidmouth car parking of January 2000, a study costing many thousands of pounds of local taxpayers' money, recommending a park and ride scheme over the limited peak summer season.

Mr Wale would do well to address his efforts to promoting a park and ride scheme with East Devon District Council, properly costed to include all necessary signage, ensuring that the parking element is on the outskirts of the town, not, as the "subterraneans" think, on the promenade and thus generating excessive traffic through the town centre.

The most basic understanding of urban design would have led him to this conclusion and an appreciation of the impact of traffic movements to and through this small seaside town. I recommend that Mr Wale reads my letter to you of August 16, 2000, on this subject - it would have given him some insight into the problem if he had read it before the meeting.

IAN T M DAVIS
SIDMOUTH

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