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It’s Bridport Town Council who’ve kicked parking into touch …….. It’s recently come to light that it is Bridport Town Council, and not the District Council, who is to blame for rejecting the opportunity of extra car parking in the town centre. It seems that the often used excuse by the town council of things being decided by the District Council just doesn’t hold up to the facts of this matter.
 People in Bridport are rightly proud that the town was recently the runner-up in the 2006 Best Local Food Awards, that we were the first town to be awarded Beacon Status for our local food production and more recently, as the new signs proclaim, are a Gateway Town for the World Heritage Site of the Jurassic Coast. Many local people have worked hard to achieve this status for our town. Isn’t it a shame that with the accolades and opportunities these awards bring that some of our town councillors over the past few years seem not to recognise, and indeed to reject, the facilities that the town really needs to maximise the benefits of these awards and to put Bridport on the map?
It seems that in 2003/4 the District Council proposed a scheme for around 70 extra car parking spaces in the New Zealand site off the South Street car park. When this was presented to the Town Council, it was rejected and indeed they asked the District Council not to proceed with the scheme. The District Council however have kept the proposal in its Local Plan, as they recognise the need for more car parking provision in Bridport. Just a few weeks ago it was reported that the inspector who has reviewed the Local Plan has recommended that the scheme be deleted from the Plan. This has undoubtedly been influenced by another letter recently sent from the Town Council confirming their continued objection to the use of the New Zealand site for car parking. The Town Council’s own websites state their position is to promote and represent the town for the benefit of the community. Yet when a scheme for extra car parking, which is widely accepted as being desperately needed and which would encourage visitors to the town, is put before them it is the Town Council that rejects it again and again. Many of its members blame the District Council when things are not provided rather than accepting that it is they themselves that are being hypocritical here by not doing what is best for the town by helping the community and local businesses to benefit from their hard earned awards and accolades. The Chamber of Trade have been lobbying since the 1980s for improvement to car parking provision but nothing has noticeably improved, indeed it gets worse every year. If it were not for the efforts of the Chamber we wouldn’t now even have the overflow car park at the football ground. Imagine how much worse the situation would be without that? Parking is one of the top topics on Bridport websites (Free Parking), people are concerned and fed up with the present situation, but to now find out that it is the Town Council that has been rejecting proposals for improvements put forward by the District Council, is a real kick in the teeth for all those who have worked so hard to achieve the awards that the town has received. Perhaps our councillors are not aware of the strength of feeling on this issue or how it is killing our town centre shops and threatening the street market of which they are so proud. Or maybe it is simply that they enjoy imposing their own parochial views on the town rather than taking every opportunity to improve facilities and enable the town to maximise its opportunities. Tony Boughton
President
Bridport Chamber of Trade
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