Readers may recall mention a while ago that high street footfall has declined by 22pc in the last 10 years. Undoubtedly some of that will be due to online shopping. Interestingly the chairman of the family-run Timpson company, when asked about it, was in no doubt as to the reason his company had only opened four high street shops out of a total of 95 in the last year, and expected his out of town sales to grow from a present 40pc to 70pc in 10 years. It will not make pleasant reading for planners in Norwich and nationwide when he stated 'Local authorities, I believe, are killing the high street and the centre of their communities by making shopping inconvenient to the motorist.
They wage war against cars with a wide range of weapons: one way systems, bus lanes, pedestrianised zones, cycle lanes, bays restricted to loading or residents, higher parking charges and an army of traffic wardens, planners all over the UK have done a disservice to high street shopping.' Might we hope that the Norwich City planners may be the first lemmings to turn and start to run the other way. Much as I, and other car drivers, might hope so, I fear the herd instinct will prove too great.
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