Pricey schemes no one wants

Further to the axing of some rather fine trees and a much loved market, what I don’t understand is ‘why’ [‘End of an era for market after 668 years’, Gazette, October 28]?

The Conservatives who control the council, but none of whom represent Canterbury wards, want to spend £1.2m in Canterbury.

Yet, at the same time, they point to the pitiful state of the council’s finances.

This has all the hallmarks of yet more misspent money on expensive schemes we don’t want.

The Station Road West car park, the Riverside development and now our High Street.

I’m all in favour of ‘improvements to the public realm to attract people’.

A good start would be to deal with the litter and graffiti.

Stop using bits of blacktop to replace York stone and granite setts.

Replace damaged lampposts and railings with heritage designs and repaint those we have left.

Reinforce our policies on attractive shop fronts.

Improve the signage to our heritage assets.

Fill in some potholes. Then, if there’s still some money in the pot, our Conservative masters from the coast and the villages can spend it chopping down trees in their own back yards and see what their residents think.

Cllr Nick Eden-green (Lib Dem) Wincheap Ward

Based on past performance can I predict that once we have a bright, shiny new high street with the market stalls swept away, the council will see an opportunity to license hot food vans, each with an attendant spread of tables and chairs.

We’ve been here before with the council (licensing) saying “we will control unauthorised street trading by providing licensed pitches, the income from which will pay for the scheme”.

The council (planning) said “you’ll need planning permission for fixed pitches”, to which the council (licensing) said, “no we don’t “and did it anyway, leaving the council (planning) pondering whether it should take enforcement action against the council (licensing).

You read it here first!

Bob Britnell

Orchard Close, Canterbury

Please don’t close Canterbury Market as we love the fruit and veg man and lady. They make my day.

Daniel Clark

Via Facebook

The scrapping of Canterbury’s market has proved controversial