Traders in Cardigan are up in arms over enforcement of parking restrictions in the town centre which they claim will have a detrimental effect on their businesses writes John Adey.

     Ceredigion County Council has pained yellow bar markings on pavements in a large part of High Street and other areas prohibiting parking at any time.

     Shopkeepers and other business people say it is sometimes necessary for vehicles to pull onto the pavement for the purpose of delivering goods or dropping off passengers, but this will no longer be tolerated in the town centre.

     The council says it is enforcing the law but traders claim it is bureaucratic and will affect businesses already hit by the recession.

     Mrs. Jackie Edwards of Jackies Hair Salon in High Street is livid over the council move, claiming it will impact on some of her customers.

     “I have handicapped clients who are dropped off right outside the salon and picked up later. This practice has been the norm for many years but now it has to stop.

     “It is absolutely disgraceful. Times are hard enough as it is and we are saddled with high business rates – this will only exacerbate the situation. All other business people I have spoken to feel the same way,” she said.

      Several traders in the town centre said they shared Mrs. Edwards’s sentiments.

     A spokesperson for the county council said ”The bar markings are legally necessary to enable enforcement of the existing traffic regulation order – which has been in place for some years – in order to prevent vehicular obstruction and ensure emergency access along High Street.”

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