For as long as I can remember Maldon District Council has increased town centre parking charges while the high street has declined.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that as the parking charges rise, the numbers of visitors drops and the businesses take less money - it is a vicious circle and a false economy.

It seems that this is a problem that the council has failed to deal with and just put off until someone eventually has to face it (as long as it’s not them) and while passing it on to the next administration might be the easiest thing for the current administration, it is lazy and disingenuous.

Everytime a business moves out or closes in the high street it seems the parking charges increase to make up the the shortfall in revenue - it’s the quick fix option - but in the long run we will be paying extortionate parking fees for a reduced number of shops. This could well mean the death of the high street.

As anything is better than an empty shop, more needs to be done to tackle this looming problem and rejuvenate our High Street.

More interesting and independent businesses that create more footfall should be encouraged.

The high street will struggle to beat the supermarkets and retail parks (that have free parking) so make it unique.

Some bold and imaginative steps need to be taken now, otherwise we will eventually pay for our inaction in the future.

We also need to remember that Market Hill and the pollution in it, will need to be tackled.

It’s time Maldon district council started using the brilliant, imaginative and elected people that it has in it to avoid problems like these before they become insurmountable.

You can only sneak up the the parking charges for so long while the shops become less attractive and dwindle further.

Chrisy Morris

(Independent)

Maldon district councillor for Heybridge West