I WAS mildly amused by Mr Deards' perception of 'the rejuvenated Bedford Square', its role as a strolling and recreational area and — my goodness — a lung for the town (Letters, December 2).
My suggestion that the area should be used for shopper parking was simply that unless the town is made as attractive to the car-borne shopper (who accounts for something like 80 per cent of the revenue of the place) as the Safeway park is, the town centre will simply decline. This is what happened to another town I lived in for 25 years, where a very similar set of circumstances existed.
Mr Deard's 'five-minute walk from a peripheral car park' sounds fine in theory, but when a week's shopping requires two or three return trips to the car by persons of maturer years and somewhat diminished physical abilities, I part company with him.
I would recommend to him that rather than seeking fresh air and enjoyment in Bedford Square, he takes a five-minute walk along Plymouth Road and enjoys the much more attractive surroundings of the Meadows.
Geoffrey M Stowell
The Laurels
The Down
Bere Alston