JUST when I thought it was safe to walk in the rejuvenated Bedford Square in Tavistock along comes your correspondent Mr Stowell! It never ceases to amaze me how many people see an open space and feel the need to fill it with a car park. He has even calculated how many vehicles he could squeeze in!
No sooner is a space created than suggestions flood in about what to fill it with. Please leave it alone. A town needs space so that people can walk unhindered, gather in groups etc. Bedford Square fulfils that need, and has given Tavistock a much needed pair of lungs, some air and space as a contrast to the rest of the town, where the car is king.
I do agree with Mr Stowell, however, about buses. To imagine they can offer a viable alternative to the car is unrealistic. But to place all car parking in a town is just as unrealistic.
No, cars should be kept in Tavistock's peripheral car parks and once their owners have magically changed into pedestrians they should walk. Sorry about that four-letter word . . . surely you remember walking . . . you put one foot in front of the other and you move forward! Even from the most remote car park in Tavistock you are only five minutes from the shops. And it does you good too.
Finally, just in case you think I'm some eco-freak with long hair and beads, I should say that I have been an enthusiastic motorcyclist and motorist for some 40 years.
However, I learned long ago that the motor vehicle is a good servant but a poor master. Ignoring that fact has created many of our current transport problems.
John Deards
Walkham Cottages
Horrabridge