Madam, With reference to the yellow lines around the market place, your story last week raises some useful points. Bollards around the market house might have been a partial solution, however the technical advice was that there are shallow service trenches under the pavement and therefore bollards could not be installed at this site. At the end of the day pedestrian safety was the Town Council's primary concern.

Illegal parking in the High Street caused difficulties for pedestrians crossing and also caused passing vehicles often to mount the pavement. This was the main reason why the Town Council requested Herefordshire Council to replace the signs with lines.

Although this did not change the parking regulations on the High Street (it has been "no waiting" for a number of years) it does mean that the regulations are communicated more effectively to drivers. The Town Council does have regular meetings with representatives of the Association of Ross Traders to discuss how to improve signage in the Town. Yes, the lines are visually detrimental, but then so was the clutter of parked cars in the High Street that has been reduced since the lines were introduced. And the change will mean that some of the signs around the Market House can be removed or replaced with smaller versions. So overall I believe that the benefits of the yellow lines outweigh the disadvantages.

Jane Roberts, Ross