CONSERVATIVE councillor Colin Froude’s recent letter in the Journal attacked Salisbury Liberal Democrats over apparent inconsistency on car parking issues.

Cllr Froude accused the Lib Dems of using “several unsubstantiated claims” in their “one hour free parking” (OHFP) campaign.

Ironically, Cllr Froude failed to back this very claim, by citing actual examples of where Lib Dems have substantiated their claims, so this objection should be discarded.

Cllr Froude makes two other points.

Firstly, that OHFP is incompatible with the Lib Dems support of improving air quality.

The second, that Lib Dems have made no contribution to the parking debate as opposed to the Conservatives, who funded free parking in the run up to Christmas 2013.

He is inconsistent.

Cllr Froude attacks Lib Dems for their parking policy and then accuses them of not engaging in debate.

The two objections contradict. He can’t have his cake and eat it.

Cllr Froude picks out two examples of where Lib Dems have not participated and extrapolates from there.

The City Council Parking Working Group, that Lib Dems did not join, is not an official Salisbury City Council group.

It has no decision making power hence councillors achieve nothing by attending.

His second example relates to the council’s discussion in response to the parking survey.

Cllr Froude claims that Lib Dem Councillors simply “did not participate”. To be blunt, this claim is utter hokum.

All Lib Dem Salisbury city councillors were present at the meeting and engaged with the debate. In another example of Cllr Froude’s lack of internal consistency, he attacks OHFP for its alleged environmental impact, yet lauds the results of similar Conservative initiatives back 2013. He cannot both support his own party on their actions in 2013 and oppose Lib Dem policy now.

In reality, one hour free parking probably wouldn’t have much of an impact on the environment as day shoppers would still have to use car parks (e.g. Culver Street) or park and ride. So, for want of being slightly more diplomatic, Cllr Colin Froude’s letter lacked both internal consistency and factual accuracy, a fact made more ironic given that he was falsely attacking the Lib Dems for the very same thing.

Cllr Froude would do better by making up his mind irrespective of the party line rather than trying to play party politics.

Gareth Pearce

Winterslow

CARS that are parked irresponsibly on pavements can cause a potentially dangerous obstruction for pedestrians as it can force them onto the road and into the path of vehicles.

Newly released research by YouGov has shown that three quarters (74 per cent) of people are affected by vehicles parked on the pavement.

Some groups – including people living with sight loss, older people or those with buggies – are at greater risk.

91 per cent of respondents living with sight loss who responded to a Guide Dogs survey said that parked cars on the pavement regularly obstruct them.

You can see how dangerous pavement parking can be in real-life video footage, filmed from a guide dog’s view, of a guide dog and their owner having to go out into the road to get around a car at youtube.com/watch?v=oMQt-cfEFsg. I am urging the public to ensure they don’t park on the pavement.

Pauline Albiges

Ferndown