HAVING had to come to terms with the introduction of the pay and display parking restrictions on The Mount and the effect it has had on our practice and our clients/visitors we now find the council is about to have a second go.

We did at least have the chance of finding a parking space on Scarcroft Road, now there is a proposal to convert this to residents and hotel use only.

As an environmentally conscious practice we value the ability of most of our workforce to travel to and from work by foot, cycle and bus. However, we do need access to vehicles for site visits, surveys etc and parking for clients, visitors etc.

I cannot believe the council really want to force businesses to leave The Mount and decamp to the architectural wastelands of Clifton Moor and the like but that seems to be their aim.

As The Mount is a mixture of residential and small businesses we have requested residents' parking permits for use only during the daytime (when the residents are not using them) and have offered to pay for visitors permits but to no avail.

Come on City of York Council, wake up, take off the blinkers and support your local businesses.

John A Ives,

Potts Parry Ives & Young,

Chartered Architects,

The Mount,

York.

Updated: 09:19 Thursday, October 14, 2004