Council should buy Co-op site for us all

I HAVE noticed with concern one or two of the letters and tweets regarding the Chamber of Trade proposal for the council to buy the Co-op site to keep the car park on Hill St.

Contrary to Richard Moore’s claim in this week’s Hinckley Times, the Co-op car park is the only large car park at the top of the town and the small college car park is not generally known and has only been temporary for six weeks until the end of August. We need a permanent car park and very soon before businesses are forced out of business.

As a resident and a person who signed the 2,500 signature petition calling on the council to buy the Co-op site, I can tell you that the Co-op car park was heavily used by shoppers and employees of the town along tradesmen like myself working on properties in the area and residents.

The loss of the Co-op car park is causing great trouble to the businesses in Upper Castle St with the drop in footfall in the area due to lack of parking.

It is also causing a problem to the residents of the area often living in terraced properties who frequently find that they cannot park near to their own homes because the spaces are taken by others. Surely the residents who rely on parking in the street have a right to park near to their own homes?

I do not want to see the very good shops at the top of town which are used by myself and family being forced to close.

Do we want to see the town filled with more flats with inadequate parking and LESS independent retailers, that is not what the 2,500 people who signed the petition wanted.

I find the opinion of another contributor who claims that the it would cause a precedent if the council did buy the site to be totally inaccurate, it would cause a precedent if the council did not buy the site bearing in mind that of all the large car parks in the town only two are not owned by the council, Britannia Centre car park and the new Sainsbuy’s car park.

It needs remembering also that not only has the Co-op made a commercial decision to close which it has every right to do and which no one blames them for, but the council themselves have taken away the car park spaces on Mount Road which is now the Leisure Centre car park, which makes matters in Upper Castle Street even worse.

So come on Hinckley council play fair by shoppers, business and residents who use the top of the town. Geoff Mayne Local resident and small business owner