Thanks for Co-op campaign

ON BEHALF of the retailers and businesses in Upper Castle Street we owe a huge thank you to the Chamber of Trade and Rosemary Wright for working with the businesses to achieve the great result of having the Co-op car park bought and reopened.

The campaign and petition involved many businesses and it was important for the survival of the Upper Castle Street area that the car park be council owned to secure its future.

To the businesses in Upper Castle Street who worked, helped and supported each other during the campaign - we did well.

To the businesses all over the town who helped and supported our petition/campaign we say a huge thank you for standing with us.

We are grateful to all our customers who informed us of the great difficulty they were having in parking at the top of the town and yet who remained very loyal and gave us time to campaign to sort out the problem. Some 2,500 of them signed our petition.

To all my colleagues who attended meetings, presentations, and at times were very vocal at council meetings to back up the COT, thank you.

A very special mention must go to Rosemary Wright for all the endless work and time that she put into this project - it is very much appreciated by all the retailers at the top of Castle Street. Also a thank you to the HTCP for agreeing to run the car park until the details are sorted out for the council to run it. Finally and importantly to the council, its officers and all the councillors who listened to our concerns and realised that the problem had to be dealt with before the important Christmas period ahead. To them all thank you for helping the businesses and their customers at the top of the town. Teresa Ellingworth, owner of Betty Ann a highly regarded ladies fashion retailer, and all the other well established businesses at the top of Castle Street