ANY proposals to impose parking meters in Tavistock will surely drive the majority of shoppers away from the town, and straight to the out of town shopping centres.

The ability to drive into town, park for five minutes and spend some money is what gives the town its pulse and lifeblood.

I used to live in a major Midlands tourist town where this happened, and the result was a large number of shops up for sale or rent, and the charity shops started taking over. In this town the parking meters came immediately following the pedestrianisation of  a street where parking was permitted for a max of 20 minutes for up to about 15 cars. The town just died, losing both local and tourist trade. One particular small shop that I was associated with lost takings of around £3,000 in the first month after the fiasco.

So wake up, Tavistock, complain and complain and complain again.

R C Blake

Tavistock