Penarth Town Councillor Nigel Humphrey replies to a Nub News article posted last week, in which the Vale Council announced it had "no plans to pedestrianise."

As you say in your article, Penarth Town Council have submitted, "a detailed proposal", which the Vale Council have completely ignored.

The Penarth Town Council Survey showed a clear majority of the public and businesses are in favour of the temporary 'safe area' proposal in response to the continued COVID crisis. The Vale Cabinet don't like the message so they're trying to shoot the messenger.

They should instead be listening. These proposals are in line with Welsh Government Policy and have been adopted successfully in towns and cities across Wales and the UK.

People want the space to walk freely and safely in the town centre instead of having one-way pavement systems and alarming bollards imposed on them, (which were deeply unpopular and are largely ignored).

This would be quick and inexpensive to put in place. It's the road changes and car-parking that would be costly, and as the Penarth Times asked this week, is parking actually a problem in Penarth?

The draft proposals were just that, the Town Councils suggestions for how to best cope with the threat to businesses in the Town Centre. It is disingenuous for Vale, as the responsible planning authority, to say that it's the Town Councils job to draw up and a fully costed scheme. Especially without any indication that the Vale would pay any attention to it.

The Vale are to be congratulated on securing £500,000 to spend on town centre improvements, presumably from the £5.3 million announced by the Deputy Minister for Housing in July. How much of that money is going to be spent in Penarth?

The Minister for Housing and Local Government Julie James has given the following COVID-planning advice (Building Better Places):

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to reset the clock and think again about the places we want to live."

The need for a long-term investment and vision is not incompatible with the immediate and affordable investment Penarth Town Council is suggesting.

Saying, as businesses close, "we told you so", isn't what anyone wants, as is saying, "sorry we should have done more".