I'M having a nasty attack of 'déja vu.' When the subject of carpark charges last came up I wrote my last letter of disgust on this matter to your newspaper in December 2007, and now it's happening all over again. No, this is not the same letter you'll be pleased to know – I've added some points to it.

Many of us use the Forest carparks for very short periods and usually just to pop into the local shops. By introducing carpark charges, small local shops who pay hefty business rates will suffer as drivers will be tempted to use supermarkets' free carparks in order to avoid the hassle of feeding a meter – or worse still, clogging up the local side roads – a road safety hazard waiting in the wings!

Doctors' surgeries are located near carparks, so even a quick visit to the doctors or chemists would constitute a tax on the sick, the elderly and young mothers with children if our councillors have their way. What a caring example to set! The only people who might park for any length of time are people who work in our towns in the very places which are paying the business rates, so short stay probably constitutes over 90 per cent of the parking. So how can Cllr Robinson possibly argue that parking charges will free up parking spaces?

On the other hand council staff have their own free carparks. We should not have double standards in the Dean if charges are ever introduced in "council owned carparks.'

Cllr Robinson argues that by making motorists pay for parking this is a fair way. Why should non motorists pay towards carparks they never use? Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have thought this through.

Would he also expect people who have no children at school, have no street lights outside their homes, never drive a car on the road and never call a policeman, or don't need sheltered housing to deduct these items from their council tax bills? Of course not!

Council tax is a charge on the community for the community. We can't cherry pick.

The Forest is quite a happy place to live and we don't want road rage over parking as they have in many towns in our country where they have parking charges. The proposed fees will hardly pay for the upkeep let alone the policing of the carparks, so fees are bound to spiral, hitting small traders even harder as well as needlessly upsetting an otherwise happy bunch of voters.

I agree that the council could do with more money in its coffers but in these difficult time why rock the boat in this way with all the aggravation it will obviously cause?

Far better to raise more money by persuading central government to let councils keep a larger share of the business rates they collect from the very businesses who will suffer if the council goes ahead with its hair-brained proposal.

At the moment councils collect business rates and pass them on to central government for them to spend or waste as they think fit.

Wouldn't it be a nice change if our council stood up for the interests of local people for a change instead of following the herd!

– Edward Kynaston, Primrose Hill, Lydney.