THE PEOPLE of Cirencester must soon make a decision as to whether they want to continue to regard their town as the historic site of a principal Roman city or a modern thriving living place with modern amenities not linked to centuries-old remnants of a bygone age.

The parking position in the town is fast becoming a problem and must be the source of financial loss to many of the local enterprises, and much of this could be remedied by the construction of a multistorey car park on one of the existing car parks.

Shutting the eyes to the problem doesn’t mean it will go away.

A million more people entered this country last year for residence and no doubt a further million will be added this year and the next, and a proportion of them will come to Cirencester whether we like it or not.

Where they are going to live remains a matter of debate but unlike the problem of housing, the problem of parking can be resolved by building on the site of one or other of the listed areas, particularly the site of the Forum since the Brewery car park will largely disappear under the site for the new cinema.

Of course this will be anathema to the conservation lobby but just how much investigation is going on and how long has it been in progress?

We certainly cannot just sterilise this important site in the centre of a 21st century town if it is to develop with minimum use of green belt land surrounding the town.

We have already started this short-sighted policy in Kemble where, rather than build a low-level two-deck car park on the site of the existing car park, we are about to take a field out of active productive cultivation on the grounds that the existing car park is built on an old coal yard.

Times change and there is no standing still. The choice for Cirencester is simple. Do we go forward or backwards? There is no middle way.

T.J. LEES Kemble