IN my letter you published on December 10 last year I stated among other things that I could not see what objects the changes to Bedford Square were supposed to achieve.
My doubts have been amply justified. The only results have been to create a rather ugly desert in front of the town hall and to lose a number of valuable parking spaces which increases the likelihood that custom for the surrounding retail businesses will be encouraged to go elsewhere.
To try and retrieve something from the unnecessary expenditure, the sensible and economic course is to restore the area as a parking facility for shoppers with the option that when and if a licenced event needs to use it then the parking will be suspended. The parking should be free but time limited to an hour or two.
It is perfectly possible to accommodate up to 25 cars on the site and this would go a small way towards reviving the threatened decline of Tavistock as a shopping centre.
If anyone says, 'Let's replace the naughty car with nice buses' you'll assuredly hear from me again — that myth is one of the biggest frauds certain pressure groups are trying to perpetrate on us.
Geoffrey M Stowell
The Laurels
The Down
Bere Alston