THE long-awaited review of parking continues and my postbag is filled with dissatisfaction about the way it is being conducted.

After campaigning vigorously and successfully to have their say, many of my correspondents say they feel disappointed that the questions lack clarity and, as one put it, “seem designed to back the respondent into a corner”.

I have argued for a solution that looks at Salisbury’s parking and transportation needs in the round. Overall, we have a system that is running at a loss – drained by entrenched under use of park and ride (at some of the sites).

The challenge is to create a model that balances the books and is fair to shoppers, city residents, traders and – crucially – to the elderly and the rural poor who rely on bus services subsidised by the city’s parking income.

I think it is honest to acknowledge that the issue of addressing parking charges is not as simple as many people would suggest.

Traders have rightly pointed out that rising prices do not automatically lead to rising revenues, as Salisbury risks losing more footfall to other centres.

However, dropping prices across the board may even further disincentivise park and ride use, reducing overall revenues and bringing unwanted additional traffic into our medieval chequers.

Full car parks are good news for shops and restaurants but there is a corresponding impact on city centre streets in some zones, where residents already tell me it is well-nigh impossible to park near their own homes.

But, just as respondents owe it to the council to respond constructively, I think the council owes it to us to be prepared to think outside the box and not be perceived as presenting a fait accompli.

Traders need and deserve a boost and delivering that should be high on the priority list of any future pricing scheme.

But it is not enough for the council to wring their hands and say that the legacy of a previous administration (14 years ago) which signed us up to park and ride is tying their hands when it comes to making wider changes.

Local government should be willing to give us the facts on impact assessments on creative solutions – reformatting park and ride as necessary and looking at eliminating the worst loss-making sites, if that is what it takes.

Pitting the interests of traders against residents and workers, urban against rural, car drivers against bus users is not the way forward, though.

We must not let the bitter experience of the last few years tempt us into a knee-jerk reaction that could push our already poorly-calibrated parking system even further into the red.