Sir, – Your front page piece in last week’s edition on High Street parking affecting shopping brought home my worst fears over the future of trading for shops in Northallerton.

Traders must be listened to – figures do not lie.

I have been warning about the effects of parking charges in these columns since 2008, however even I could not have forecast the mayhem that the first wave of charges in the town car parks would wreak, and the disastrous effects of the crazy measures taken to shore up one bad policy idea repeatedly with others making things even worse. The cost of constantly digging up and changing the signs must have cost a fortune.

We have had to endure displacement parking so bad that vandalism was taking place and measures brought in so that most roads within three quarters of a mile from the High Street now have parking restrictions too. Not to mention that residents have to pay for permits outside their front door. A further nice earner for the council.

Nobody wanted parking charges, only the council officers who led councillors by the nose, and now North Yorkshire County Council has waded in to finish off the High Street. The scheme we have is totally confusing for locals, never mind visitors who won’t come again after getting a ticket. Six months for a “proper” review is too long to wait.

I am sorry, but these people do not know how shops work.

As someone who has run a chain of franchises and sold to retailers for many years I can claim some experience and what I see worries me greatly. What will the High Street be like with 30 per cent boarded up shops. Officers only seem interested in traffic management as opposed to a vibrant high street and without a bridge at North End that will not happen. They say five years but we can’t wait that long – High Street will be dead. I would ask councillors to listen to what local people want and change things back for the better. It worked.

ANDREW REID South Parade, Northallerton.