WHY is Steve Galloway, Liberal Democrat leader on City of York Council, so concerned about losing car parking spaces in the city centre (Evening Press January 9) when the council's Local Transport Plan has a target of a seven per cent reduction in the car traffic entering the city by 2003 and an increase in the proportion of people arriving by Park and Ride?

Transport consultant Jonathan Tyler has estimated that the projected increase in passengers arriving by Park and Ride implies that 'a minimum of 920 spaces in the inner area could, in due course, be removed, and in due course should be removed if the environmental gain from Park and Ride is not to be lost'.

During the public consultation on the plan only seven per cent of residents were in favour of allowing traffic to continue to grow, with 70 per cent favouring a reduction in traffic to, or below, 1991 levels. Residents' surveys have shown far more are concerned about traffic congestion (46 per cent) than are worried about lack of parking (16 per cent).

Evidence compiled from the council's own car parking data shows that overall there is currently spare capacity, and since November a further 600 spaces have become available at the Naburn Park and Ride site alone.

The Lib Dems should be paying more attention to concerns about radical changes proposed for our bus services by First York.

They might also look at ways of making bus services more attractive by speeding buses through traffic-choked streets so those who make the effort to use Park and Ride, or who leave their cars at home, are rewarded with a timely and convenient journey.

Andy D'Agorne,

Press Officer, York Green Party, Broadway West, York.

Updated: 10:33 Thursday, February 08, 2001