More Shrewsbury parking would be step in right direction

I don't think anyone would ever argue that Shrewsbury is awash with car parking spaces writes Dave Burrows.

Anyone who has ever needed to just pop to the bank or dive into a shop in the town centre on a busy day will be all too familiar with the wonderful game which involves either driving round and round in circles til you give up (or run out of petrol, whichever is sooner – Do Not Pass Rackhams. Do Not Collect Your Dry Cleaning) or sitting in a car park with runners placed at various vantage points ready to tell you when someone so much as walks towards their vehicle with lots of bags in their hands.

Shrewsbury needs more car parking. That is a given. But is it that easy? Well no, it seems not.

Morris Properties recently opened a car park within easy walking distance of the centre of town at Horsefair in Abbey Foregate. It is not only useful for people going into town, but also for the restaurants, bars and businesses in Abbey Foregate itself.

But even before the first vehicle had slapped a ticket on its window, residents were raising concerns about the safety of pedestrians in the area. Horsefair, for those who don't know, is a little street off Abbey Foregate where there are several houses.

The signs for the car park direct vehicles down a very narrow lane rather than around the gyratory and which, in the words of the local councillor, is a "wholly unsuitable road". An accident waiting to happen? Not any more.

It seems a lorry has crashed into the bed and breakfast situated on the lane. A quaint Grade II listed black and white affair. Now with some of its railings missing (though thankfully the dining room is still intact).

Morris, for their part, say traffic has been directed down this alley since the days when the land was operated as a builders' yard. That's as may be, but you have to say that Bob the Builder making the odd journey back and forth to pick up some bricks to 'get the job done' is a bit different from 40-odd cars looking for somewhere to park.

But herein lies the problem. Access aside, Horsefair would seem a good place for a car park. I understand concerns from people living in the houses which line the street, but the car park is out of the way and unobtrusive. After all the alternative is to, in the word of Joni Mitchell, 'pave paradise and put up a parking lot'.

It is to be hoped that the local residents, Shropshire Council and Morris can come up with a solution (which seems to me to be simple. There really is no hardship in sending the cars around Horsefair to come down a slightly wider road).

Shrewsbury needs car parking. What it doesn't need is all its B&Bs being wiped out by a passing lorry.