SIR — Dulverton Town Council and Somerset County Council is currently in the process of making draconian changes to parking regulations within the town centre area.

As far as I can establish this appears to be without any request by or wish from the majority of the residents or traders who will be considerably affected.

I am fortunate in that I have no parking issues myself and therefore no hidden agenda.

One of the most important considerations in respect of parking is that there should be convenient and available on street provision for residents and customers in the town in addition to the off-street car parking which is generally aimed at the all day visitors. The vast majority of the residents in the old part of the town have little or no off-street parking.

It is stated that the reasons for the traffic review are:

1) To assist traffic flow

2) For road safety

3) To ensure access and passage of emergency services

I believe we have all these points already. The alterations as proposed will have no beneficial effect as full access is already there.

The roads and junctions in question can be used safely with due diligence and care by all local traffic as in the many similar higgledy piggledy streets of Dulverton.

The town is affected by speeding vehicles, as is the case of a myriad other villages and towns.

We have areas of 20mph limit and it would be nice to have a blanket limit throughout the entire town. This is of course generally unenforceable but we would need to encourage drivers to adhere.

With the proposed parking restrictions, the view would be opened up and this in turn will encourage drivers to approach junctions and areas with greater confidence and therefore speed.

In many villages throughout the country, authorities have installed pinch points, chicanes, imitation gates, shrubbery etc to create an illusion of danger to encourage drivers to slow down.

The proposals here will only produce an open, completely clear road ahead with the obvious consequence of increased speed and lack of concentration.

We do not need complete two-way traffic throughout the town; single carriageway necessitates slowing down, and parked cars are a good way of doing this and have the added benefit of providing a facility for local residents.

I can find no evidence of accident, failure of emergency services to attain response times or substantial road disruption which can be attributed to the current parking set-up.

The main problems experienced in the town are due to large and towing vehicles and happily the council is addressing this issue with new signage.

I am surprised that the police and highways would wish to support changes to ease traffic flow by increasing visibility and in the same breath be in favour of imposing a 20mph limit.

In my experience of dealing with traffic related incidents, increased flow and safety do not necessarily go hand in hand.

A busy through-route situation I can understand but in the context of a small cramped town such as ours I would welcome the figures/evidence to support such a plan.

On the whole I feel the proposals should be abandoned and also save a considerable sum from the purse of the county council in these acknowledged times of austerity.

Bart Middleton,

Dulverton.