Restrictions and free parking would save shops

WHEN out-of-town retail developments started to appear in this country (Yorkshire Post, September 4), planners kept a lid on the potential impact on town centres by imposing restrictions on the goods which could be sold.

Typically a bulky goods restriction was placed on planning approvals only allowing items which could not reasonably be bought and taken home to be sold. This was the norm for many years and open A1 consent (allowing anything to be sold ) was seen as taboo – fine.

Then, for some reason, the floodgates opened and open planning consents have been dished out on a wholesale basis the length and breadth of the country with the devastating effect we all now see on traditional high streets.

I believe planning authorities/governments softened due to the prospect of collecting millions of pounds in extra revenue from rates.

How short-sighted can they get? A two-hour stay in a town/city centre can easily cost £6 compared to zero for all day out-of-town parking – I am not a genius but I can work out where the shoppers will go!

I was recently in a market town which used to be the heart of the community and which at a guess has 20 to 25 per cent vacant shops and, yes, a Sainsbury’s opened last year out of town.

The remaining traders all have “use us or lose us” posters in their windows and while I was talking to the last remaining butcher in town we watched a queue of 10 to 12 people get onto a free shuttle bus to the supermarket. The butcher knew every one of the people getting onto the bus and had served their parents before them.

Probably too late now, but a charge on out-of-town parking similar to the in-town rates could be interesting