Not all Dunblane changes are to be welcomed
Dear Editor
I am writing in support of Mr Mackay (Observer letters, November 30) as he expresses his concerns about the impact which the new parking restrictions and altered traffic management will have for users of Dunblane town centre and, consequently, on the traders doing business there.
Dunblane town centre did require improvement. Much of what has been done is to be welcomed: for no other reason than that the steady deterioration, caused by council neglect over the last two decades, has been halted. The tragedy is that considerable public expense could have been avoided, and the community’s wishes met in full, if only those representing the community, instead of ‘forgetting’ the proposals for Stirling Road, which had been debated and agreed in 2000, had kept pushing the council for implementation.
For the sake of all traders within Dunblane town centre I sincerely hope that the new arrangements will work out. Much will depend on whether the sufficient town centre parking spaces remain available to shoppers and visitors; as well as for those attending weddings and funerals. Regrettably, failing Park and Ride as suggested years ago, the increase in people seeking allday parking means that parking rules will have to be enforced if disruption to the working of the town centre is to be avoided. And why not parking discs instead of meters to encourage shoppers to park up and walk? Discs do not add to the cost of the shopping basket and are widely used elsewhere.
It is quite evident that the designers did not bother to listen to residents and to understand how our town centre operates: the loss of parking and restrictions to traffic around the railway station and the Post Office were not requested by the community. I have yet to encounter people deliberately choosing to linger in front of the railway station; as the publicity posters would have it. I look forward to watching the commuters, with briefcases and laptops, parking their bicycles before taking the train. Perhaps I may spot a cyclist with a shopping basket coming to town!
Ian H C Stein, Ochlochy Park Dunblane