IT IS hard not to agree with the chairman of Thirsk Regeneration Initiative in his assessment of the impact of parking charges in the town: the sky has definitely not fallen in.

The widespread view that the introduction of charges a year ago would kill the town centre has not been fulfilled and let’s be thankful for that. We don’t think Peter Walker’s assessment is based upon anything other than the physical evidence of businesses still trading and, on the surface at least, surviving the deepest recession in most people’s living memory.

His assessment, while not based on empirical evidence like cash going through tills, is no less valid. For a town the size of Thirsk to have just three empty commercial properties is remarkable. There are some similar towns that have 20 per cent or more vacancy rates.

It will be interesting to see if any of the traders in Thirsk who so fiercely opposed the charges will challenge Mr Walker’s view.

We suspect it may well be a similar situation in Northallerton, where the campaign against charges was most fierce.

The charges scheme has not been without its problems, particularly in relation to shoppers trying to find free parking in nearby residential areas, but the High Street seems to be as vibrant as it has ever been. Again, as the anniversary of the introduction of charges nears, we would be interested to hear from traders with evidence that their businesses have been damaged, and not just because of the impact of the recession and the sluggish recovery.