00:00So we're here at Plumbridge in Stafford and Andy, this is your base, your shop?
00:04It is indeed, yeah, for 40 years.
00:06Cool, and not too happy at the minute, you've got, you know, some of the stock you have here,
00:11it's not the lightest and people need to kind of pull up and get it in the boot.
00:14That's correct, yeah.
00:15Being an out sort of thing. You've got a few parkings, how many parking spaces you got out front?
00:19There's about 10 out there, but it's not just for me, it's a lot of people that use the town all the time.
00:25Basically there's elderly people, disabled people, people dropping things off.
00:29People just going for a coffee, it's the sort of lifeline of the town really, for this end of the town.
00:34Yeah, well I've just spoke to some traders from the local food shop, the gym, the hairdressers,
00:38the cafe, and they've all said these spaces are very useful to them.
00:41But these spaces are under threat I believe, just fill us in on what the council want to do.
00:45Well basically they want to remove the parking spaces and produce a cycle lane,
00:50which I haven't got a problem with cyclists, I'm a cyclist myself.
00:53It's just really that hardly anybody use these cycle lanes and that's,
00:57everybody in the town knows that, and sort of you're going to deprive this area of the town
01:02from parking spots, which lots of people use. It's not just me as I say, it's all sorts of people.
01:08Come and go, we've actually calculated there's about 1,200 uses of this parking spots in one week.
01:14Wow.
01:15So that's 1,200 spots, because it's 30 minutes free parking,
01:19it's the only free parking that we've got in this area.
01:22Basically when all the big car parks were taken away from us this end of the town,
01:26this end of the town did suffer.
01:28So by taking these will just make it 10 times worse.
01:31Yeah, and do you think access down this road for a cyclist at the minute,
01:36without the cycle lane is a problem?
01:38Not really at all, it's a one-way road.
01:41While we've been standing here in the last sort of 30 minutes,
01:44there's not been one cyclist going past.
01:45Yeah.
01:46So you know, to be fair, I don't see it's a problem.
01:50There's nothing wrong with what we've got here now, so if it's not broke, why fix it?
01:54I'm sure there's better things they could spend £6 million on.
01:58Well, is that what they're saying, £6 million?
02:00£6 million is the budget, yeah.
02:02Well, I mean, when you're looking at where it's coming from,
02:04that red bit of path just over the way there,
02:06they're going to be chopping off some of the flowerbed, I believe.
02:08That's correct, yeah.
02:10So that's an extra expense and a loss of part of the beautiful flowerbed.
02:14It is, well, to be fair actually, I know a lot of people criticise this end of the town
02:19for looking dowdy and things like that, where it's a beautiful flowerbed,
02:24that people comment on.
02:25So why take it away?
02:26Exactly the same reason.
02:27Why take away what's here?
02:29It's not broke, why fix it?
02:30Yeah.
02:30And you've started a petition.
02:32You've got both a paper one in store and an online one, yeah?
02:34Yeah, we've got about 70 signatures here now and we've got an online one
02:40and you can go on the council website and basically fill that in.
02:47There's a code there, you can go and put your feelings there.
02:52And the general feeling is that people don't want to lose this area
02:57because it's the lifeline of this top of the town.
03:01Hello sir, what's your name?
03:02I'm Samir.
03:03And Samir, we've just been telling you about the plans that
03:07might result in these parking spaces going.
03:09You're making use of it today.
03:12Very useful for you, these being here?
03:13Yes, yes, this parking spot is quite useful for us because, you know,
03:18myself and my colleagues, they use this parking spot for quick access to town centre.
03:23Yeah.
03:23They bring their car here, we go to banking, we pop into the shops for quick shopping and all.
03:27So if it's gone, maybe we'll have to find another space which would be a headache.
03:31Yeah, very true.
03:33I mean, looking at it, there's plenty of space you would think where they could
03:37have a cycle lane and parking.
03:40Do you think having a cycle lane here is going to bring a rush of people into the town?
03:45Is it, you know, which is better?
03:47The parking that's being used or a cycle lane?
03:49Parking, like you see here, at least five to six, six to seven cars can park here at a time.
03:54Yeah.
03:55And moreover, it's a short parking, which means more cars are using it frequently, a day.
04:00So I think it's well fit for a car park.
04:04Do you feel that traders, you know, at the end of the day, it's all about traders.
04:10You're the corner life and soul of the town.
04:12Yeah.
04:12Do you feel that you're consulted about these decisions and your views listened to or take it not?
04:19Well, I did ask for a response 10 days ago by email to the Council and up to now I've had no response.
04:28The letter was, there's no contact telephone number on the letter,
04:32there's no contact email address on the letter
04:37and a big thing like this for us and this end of the town was sent by the apprentice engineer.
04:43And really and truly, you know, we should have been consulted,
04:47so somebody should have come round and talked to us.
04:50And, you know, after I've sort of asked for some information, nothing has come back.
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