RESIDENTS, shoppers, commuters and business people are being encouraged to attend the area forums and have their say on the controversial issue of parking.
Pay parking is being considered as a possible option for Rossendale's towns and villages, but nothing has yet been decided.
The topic has already been discussed this week at forums in Whitworth on Monday and Bacup yesterday (Thursday).
On Monday, the people of Haslingden will get their say at Haslingden Primary School and on 23 March it will be the turn of Rawtenstall folk at the Kingfisher Centre. Meetings start at 7pm.
Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce is firmly opposed to the idea of pay parking. Member Tony Winder urged people to air their views, saying: 'Parking in Rossendale affects everybody - businesses, commuters, shoppers and residents - and we need to make sure any proposals for Rossendale are the right ones.
'I would urge people to come along to the area forums.We have had these debates before and we know the council has had to listen to the people in the past.'
Meanwhile, the Free Press has been thanked for its contribution towards the review of parking provision in Rossendale.
More than 700 people signed letters printed in the paper to say they did not want pay parking to be introduced and these were presented to the review group.
Councillor Leonard Entwistle, team leader for the parking review team, wrote to us, saying: 'The involvement of the Rossendale Free Press has allowed the people of Rossendale to put forward their views on this public issue.'
He said the review team had taken on board all the comments and representations received.
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PHILIP MARTIN, PENZANCE, CORNWALL (04/12/2006 at 14:11)
Just a quick note to offer my comments on your parking discussion.
On 4th December I visited Rossendale on a combined business/pleasure trip as I am looking to expand my business, possibly in your area, and also visit my daughter & grandchildren in Whitewell Bottom.
I took my 3 year old grand-daughter into Rawtenstall to go to Lloyds-Tsb and to shop for Christmas presents, not knowing the area I parked in the Kay St. car park at 1205pm, went to the sign to see how to pay and saw that it was 'free' parking but I had to get a disc. With a three year old in tow in the pouring rain, I went to the nearest shop which was a video shop, they didn't have any and told me to try the newsagents in the pedestrian precinct, after queuing for a couple of minutes there I got to the counter, only to be told that they were out and to try the post office, I eventually found the post office, queued again and got my disc. I arrived back at my van at 1215 to find a ticket attached. I was not at all happy as I thought that I had complied with the instructions and telephoned the Parkwise office, the lady listened to my plea and made a note on their system advising me to write in to them with my explanation.
As soon as I returned home to Cornwall I wrote to them as advised, only to be told a few days later that I did not have a good enough explanation and reminding me that I still only had the remainder of my 14 days in which to pay!
I would just like to apologise to the people of the area as I was intending to expand my business in the Rawtenstall area, I had already viewed several industrial units and taken other steps to arrange interview facilities for my proposed 3 new members of staff, this will now NOT happen, my business is vehicle based and I would not like to encourage my customers to visit an area in which they have such an unclear parking policy and petty bureaucracy. I also had the entire day free to buy Christmas presents for my family but after the events of the day, went into Manchester, paid my ¿¿3.50 parking and spent just short of a thousand pounds there, apologies to the shop keepers of Rawtenstall, I was intending to put my business their way, I started as a one-man business and have always prided myself in using small businesses instead of the larger companies.
Kind regards, Philip Martin, Vansport Limited, Cornwall.