"However, if you share my view that both the Sainsbury's and Old Market Place car parks were considerably busier four years ago than they are now then it is impossible to see how this could not have reduced trade. "I don't think we can say that, Francis. The key is really if the trade has gone down, and whether it's gone down due to people not driving. And even if we were to prove the two happened, then we still can't factually correlate the two declines (yet to be proven) with any alleged reduction in the ease of driving in Chiswick. It could be that people simply order things online. Bottom line = if we want to be data-driven, we can't say that less parking means less business for shops.I'll close this off with a quick note from Houston, TX. It is, unfortunately, a ghastly place in which I spend too much time due to work. The car lovers in this forum might probably like it, it's the sort of place where there aren't pedestrian crossings to save one's skin, or even pavements on which to walk. Indeed, if you walk in Houston people assume that you're either a hobo or stop to ask if everything's OK. Motorways have six lanes, car parks are humongous, for there's a law mandating that they have enough capacity for peak days... and yet shopping malls are closing down and shops are closing too. Online retail is a lot better, even there where driving for 100 metres is just the norm.
Francis Sheehan ● 113d