Jayne Dowle: Give us what we want: somewhere to park

I have lost count of the friends who have told me they don't like shopping in Barnsley town centre because "it costs too much to park". So they zoom off down the M1 to Meadowhall instead, conveniently forgetting that it costs them petrol to get there. It should be an easy choice – 2.20 for four hours parking in town, or whatever your engine uses in fuel to do about 24 miles there and back. I took three attempts to pass my maths O-Level, but even I can do the sums on that one.

So, I am pleased to see that Selby District Council has kept increases in car-parking charges at bay for a year in a bid to help local traders and small businesses recover from the recession. At only 2.50 for the whole day, charges in the North Yorkshire town are already amongst the lowest in Yorkshire. I've sat in enough council meetings to know that revenue from car-parks is a major source of income for local authorities. So when one decides to compromise this ready source of cash for the sake of the bigger picture, it is always a big deal for residents, and for potential visitors. And I've sat in enough council meetings to know that however ambitious the scale of the new shopping centre, the hospital extension, the theatre, museum or leisure centre, the big issue is always parking.

You get the high-minded souls who bang on about sustainability and public transport and cycle racks. But to them I say, get real.

Outside the big cities, public transport is largely woeful, and for a family, it is usually more expensive than using the car. If people can't find a cheap, safe, plentiful place to park nearby, then no glossy marketing campaign is going to get them to visit a shiny new attraction. And also, with public spending cuts reported to be threatening big schemes, such as the extension to York's successful park-and-ride, we can't rely on a raft of imaginative alternatives seeing the light of day anytime soon.

Note the word "nearby". Second on the list to expense is always proximity. When people say there is nowhere to park, what they usually mean is that there is nowhere to park directly outside the shop to which they want to go. One acquaintance won't park in the multi-storey in Barnsley because she says it is too far to go back down in the lift to the shops. Town planners should take note – the country is full of people like this. Save the money you were going to spend on that supposedly inspiring piece of public art, and give the public what they want. Somewhere to put the car.

There are thousands of car-parking spaces in my own town centre. But because some of them involve a short walk and maybe even crossing a road, they stand empty all weekend. Meanwhile, shops close and traders go bust, all because people can't be bothered to use their legs for five minutes.

In the week, of course, it is a different matter, as office workers and students fill all the spaces by 9am. Then, the issue is not spaces in the wrong place, but not enough spaces. Local residents are immensely frustrated by cars cramming the side streets. Because I lived in London for years, where any parking space at all is a bonus, I reluctantly accept that people will park in front of my house and I will have no control over it. Woe betide them if they block me in, especially on a school morning, but frankly, I have got bigger things to worry about.

So I am always shocked at how exercised seemingly mild-mannered neighbours get about strangers daring to leave cars on "their" bit of road. The hospital near me is about to be extended and improved to offer a wider range of rehabilitation treatments. It will become an asset to the town, create some jobs, and of course, it will mean more visitors. Well, for the fuss being made about the increase in cars coming and going, you would think a spaceship was about to disgorge an army of rampaging aliens in our midst.

Yes, the hospital has some responsibility to provide ample car-parking. But there are going to be busy times when this just isn't adequate. So what can we do? Accept that this is the way of the world and get on with our lives? Move house? Or spend our days nicking traffic cones to cordon off the pavements? I often wonder what kind of country we have become. But never more so than when I see motorists tutting resentfully as they shove a few coins in a slot, or homeowners sticking "don't park here" signs on their garden gates. Selfish, small-minded and mean. Not a great advertisement for modern Britain, is it?