I REFER to the recent article by Faith Eckersall pleading that Bournemouth council do not get rid of car parking in the town centre.

I’m pleased to share that I wholeheartedly agree with Faith. Which is exactly the reason that Bournemouth council has no plans to get rid of any parking in the town centre. In actual fact, we are improving parking.

We made a commitment some years ago to maintain the number of car parking places in the town centre, a commitment that – despite us shouting about it quite regularly – seems to keep being forgotten. What we are doing is upgrading the quality of the car parking stock whilst also utilising the land to provide much needed new modern housing for our growing population. Wherever this is done, car parking is replaced, either on site or nearby, to keep the number of total town centre spaces the same or increased.

A few examples – the old Madeira Road surface car park? Modern student housing developed and a new multi-storey public car park erected on site. The Berry Court scheme to bring much needed new rental housing for the younger population? A new multi-storey public car park on the site. The new flagship Winter Gardens development? New underground public car park in addition to the residents' parking, and more spaces to boot. The same will go for every new development in the town centre.

So not only are we keeping car parking in the town centre, but we are also overseeing the town’s regeneration, increasing housing provision for young people and actually providing much better car parking quality than there was before. I expect some will still complain, but please don’t complain about parking because it’s going nowhere!

COUNCILLOR PHILIP BROADHEAD

Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Bournemouth Town Hall