Plaid petition over Lammas Street

A petition has been launched as part of a campaign to try and persuade the county council to reverse its decision to introduce parking charges in Lammas Street. The petition is being organised by the four Plaid Cymru county councillors representing Carmarthen Town. Cllr. Arwel Lloyd, who is leading the campaign said, "We succeeded at the end of last year in persuading the council to defer the introduction of parking charges for one year, but they did not agree to scrap the plan entirely. Unless we can persaude them to back down, these charges will be introduced next year, and so we are continuing with our campaign."

Petition forms will be available to sign in a range of shops in Lammas Street itself, and those who use the shops are particularly urged to show their support for the campaign. The Plaid councillors also drew comparisons with other towns. "There was a report recently," said Cllr Lloyd, "about Billericay in Essex, where the council scrapped on-street parking charges and found that people started returning to the High Street to do their shopping. Parking charges can make a real difference to the vibrancy of the town centre. It's also worth noting that there is not a single boarded-up shop in Lammas Street at present. Experience in towns which charge for on-street town centre parking is often very different.

"If we want to keep the businesses which we have in Lammas Street at a very difficult time economically, we need to reject the council's plans completely," concluded Cllr Lloyd.