City centre is facing a number of threats

OVER recent weeks there have been several reports of pedestrians being knocked down by cyclists, also the elderly lady who was badly injured recently in Cardiff when using the pedestrian crossing correctly.

This problem is rapidly getting worse. Since the Nextbike scheme was introduced in Cardiff, numbers of cyclists going through pedestrian crossings, ignoring lights and in pedestrianised parts of the city centre have increased considerably, although the scheme was wellintentioned.

Added to this hazard are skateboarders, particularly in the area near the Central Library and also between the Central Station and the new BBC building.

Coupled with the anti-social behaviour in the city centre: drunkenness, people being pestered for money by beggars, fights (I have seen a number of fights in St Mary Street through the area between the market and the clock by the Royal Hotel); all this is bound to have an adverse effect on trade in the city centre. It is no longer a pleasure to look around the shops for many people and I have heard several say they do not feel safe – and this is during daytime shopping hours, not late at night.

I really think this is having a worse effect on trade in the shops than internet shopping. I feel sorry for the Royal Hotel, with so much antisocial behaviour near the St Mary Street entrance and the filthy state of the end of Westgate Street where the other entrance is. Margaret Smith Roath, Cardiff