WITH regard to Crediton Town Square, we really do need to try and respond more to what the majority of people in Crediton want and not just what a vociferous minority, often with antediluvian ideas, say they want.

Two years ago I suggested to Mid Devon District Council, when I was a District Councillor for Crediton, that they should lease the Town Square to the Town so that the Kyrtonians could decide what it should be used for and some money could come back to the Town, rather than going to the District Council.

Frank Letch complains that nothing has happened in those two years, perhaps he as the Town Mayor is uniquely positioned to do something about that!

My first suggestion regarding the square was, that the areas surrounding the main flat surface could be leased out to local cafes and businesses so that they could place tables and chairs, and possibly gazebos/pagodas near to their businesses so that people could sit alfresco, as they do in just about every other town I have been to in Europe, and if necessary shelter from the rain under the canopies.

My second suggestion was that from the funds raised the square could be utilised for its cleaning and maintenance on a more regular basis.

Recently in the "Courier" I, controversially it seems, suggested that the square be used on the 300 days it is not used by special events and markets, as a car park.

It seems that the vociferous minority have not read the results from Crediton’s neighbourhood plan. In it a large number of people express concerns about the lack of parking in the High Street and close to it.

St Saviour’s Way is useful but it is hard work for people to carry shopping back up the hill and almost impossible for a wheelchair user or someone pushing a child buggy.

If we want to keep our High Street a shopping street we need to look at improved parking facilities, not bury our heads in the sand, possibly the sand in the Town Square!

Martin Binks

Sheraton House

Kennerleigh