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Local Action - Transport - Park and Ride
Members of the North Devon Green Party often involve themselves deeply with local issues, putting personal time and energy into making the green voice heard, when all other voices muddy into brown.
This area documents some of those campaigns.
A letter to the Journal from Green Party member R. King, Oct 2005
Your article on the "abuse" of the park and ride scheme (20th Oct) surely highlights the need for building more facilities where people can park and walk/cycle/ride/car-share into town. For Councillor Cann to suggest that people who are car-sharing or walking into town are "misusing the park and ride" shows a complete disregard for the contribution that myself and other people are making to reducing congestion and pollution in Barnstaple. For him to say that "it is defeating the whole objective" makes me wonder if the only value he can see in a park and ride is to make money from bus fares.
The siting of the car park makes it ideal as a free "park and walk" for people who need to visit Barnstaple and are willing to take a pleasant stroll or cycle into town through Rock Park, thus reducing congestion, cutting down Greenhouse Gas emissions, and keeping themselves healthier. If Councillor Cann is only concerned with money, perhaps he will see the benefits of reduced NHS costs from people who exercise regularly.
I agree with Councillor Greenslade’s view that the most important thing is to keep vehicles out of the town centre. The Park School site is so close to the town centre that it makes more sense as a "park and walk". Now that there's a demonstrable demand for it, why not build a proper park and ride scheme inside Councillor Cann’s ward on the A39 at Roundswell, on the Bideford side of the roundabout? This would keep a lot of traffic well outside Barnstaple, wouldn’t be as attractive to walkers and so would probably make enough money in bus fares to keep Councillor Cann happy.
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