SPEAKING as both a motorist and a cyclist (and yes, I do pay my road tax like everyone else), I wholeheartedly agree with Will Bramhill about the survival of the town centre (Gazette Letters, February 7, “Cycleways will help our town centre”).
All the studies in major towns and cities across the UK and the EU show that business prospects are not improved by having more cars in town centres.
In fact, the opposite is the case.
The key to a thriving town centre is greater “footfall”, and that is not provided by cars whizzing through the centre, but rather by buses, taxis, bicycles and pedestrians.
If we could, for example, ban private cars from using the High Street as a short-cut through town, and at the same time improve pedestrian and bike access, things would improve dramatically.
Look at the pedestrianised centres of Norwich and Cambridge for instance - we could learn a lot by trying to follow their example.
If however we keep on encouraging more and more car dependency, things will never improve.
David Huggon
Via email
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