COUNCILLOR Fran Oborski is clearly missing the point (Row over call for free car parking, Shuttle, March 13). This issue is not just about free parking, it is about saving our town centres and the council using excessive parking charges as an easy source of revenue to disguise their waste and financial incompetence.

Without more help for the High Street, this most British of institutions will be reduced to what most of our villages have now become – a place where people are forced to travel miles for basic provisions and essential services.

To say “30 per cent of Saturday shoppers in Kidderminster came from out of town” is misleading. Even if this unsubstantiated figure is correct it is highly probable that most would still be Wyre Forest residents, and those shoppers who do come from outside the district are supporting our local retailers which is more than Councillor Oborski and her council colleagues appear to do.

To label UKIP’s call for reduced car parking charges “irresponsible” by quoting figures taken from some financial spreadsheet shows how out of touch she really is. I suggest she uses her taxpayer funded iPad as a calculator rather than a games machine (Councillor played games in debates – Shuttle, March 13).

If the council looked at efficiencies and modern technology to reduce the £1million it currently spends on administering its shambolic parking scheme, the £750,000 loss she is so concerned about could be significantly reduced, and that is before taking into account the £500,000 profit the district council rakes in from parking charges.

There are many councils up and down the country offering free town centre parking with more joining their ranks every week as they realise the need to provide a level playing field for local shops to compete with out-of-town retail parks. If they can do it, so can Wyre Forest.

It is clear the will is just not there to help our town centres compete and thrive, with the council planning to increase parking charges yet again. This surely is irresponsible to the businesses in the towns that already pay high rates and rents.

The council should be looking at ways of attracting more people into the towns, and free parking is the business model used to do just that. The council’s current strategy is economics of the madhouse.

MICHAEL WRENCH Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for UKIP Wyre Forest Round Hill Wharf, Kidderminster