MADAM, FURTHER to the letter from Andrew Meek last week (and as my initiation into the 'Grumpy Old Men' ROW Branch), the planning department

does seem to have a deliberate policy of removing actual and potential parking spaces for shoppers in Ross-on-Wye. Over the last few years we have seen the ex-TC Longford car park, the land adjacent to the library and the old brewery site all turned into flats. More recently in Henry Street, the old vets car parking by The Stag has been built on, as has the car parking, workshops and storage area next to Wye Electric with the effect that they now need to park their vehicles on the street or pay for parking elsewhere.

To add insult to injury, a fine brick built industrial building, in Millpond Street, that would have been an interesting conversion project for a developer has now been demolished to increase carparking. For, guess who? – Morrisons. (Fine store that it is!) The term 'Planning' signifies a degree of forethought, yet this seems lacking in the decisions to build on empty space and then knock down buildings elsewhere to enlarge an exisiting supermarket car park. Apropos the taxi rank debate, I believe I am right in thinking that taxis are not strictly allowed to sit on the rank awaiting a fare but should only use the rank to collect passengers. Presumably because of this some taxi drivers park their cabs in the two-hour parking in Cantilupe Road, designed for shoppers, leaving the rank by their office empty. This adds to the frustration of shopkeepers trying to woo customers to the town. Perhaps Somerfield/Sainsbury and especially Morrisons, with their expanded parking area, should be persuaded to provide some dedicated 'taxi parking zones' so that the cabs are on hand for their customers and are not blocking parking spaces for shoppers in other parts of the town.

Howard Eldridge, Ross