Dear Editor

I WOULD like to thank The Standard for contacting Cotswold District Council and seeking further explanations for the rejection of the idea of a Park and Ride.

I am also grateful to CDC for their openness in providing information about the source of their information, which I have been able to view.

The link, bit.ly/2VdpXhs, takes the reader to a 4 year old video presentation, which uses extremely out of date data, from 2000 and 2003.

It compares the effect of provision of Park and Ride services in a number of medium sized towns throughout England (none of which are similar in size to Cirencester) to the existing parking provision. There is nothing that compares the effect of Park and Ride to the effect of the building of a multi-storey car park.

Nevertheless, it is likely that it demonstrates an increase in traffic which results from reducing

congestion.

The presentation concludes that "Careful scheme design is important to deliver local and global environmental benefits".

It does not say that there is no place for park and ride solutions, and, still less, that multi-storey car parking is a preferred solution.

In making Cirencester fit for the 21st century, planning needs to take account of future changes in personal transport.

Recent climate change experts have suggested that reasons to be hopeful that we can reduce CO2 emissions include the rapidly falling cost of renewable energy, the move towards electric and/or hydrogen powered vehicles, and, perhaps most powerfully, the idea that the towns and cities of tomorrow will be cleaner, quieter, and nicer places to live.

Erecting a concrete multi-storey is not addressing the quality of the built environment for Cirencester's population. Incidentally, concrete itself is a major source of CO2, which needs to be taken into account when assessing the environmental impact.

I therefore suggest that Cirencester develops a park and ride scheme which aims to deal with most commuter traffic into Cirencester, sited in a location which is convenient for drivers from Cheltenham, Gloucester, Swindon, Stroud and Oxford directions, and linked to Cirencester by electric or hydrogen powered bus.

I realise, of course, that this does not address all of Cirencester's transport problems, but it does remove

a pressure with which Cirencester's infrastructure was never designed to cope.

Once that pressure has been reduced, alternative, more sustainable and appropriate schemes can be introduced, which will enable easier access to the town by public transport, car, bike or on foot.

In so doing, we can improve the quality of life in Cirencester, which seems to me to be the ultimate objective.

Yours sincerely

C J Goldie

Cirencester