MP David Chaytor's call on the Government to tax parking places at the Trafford Centre to save Bolton and Bury town centres sounds, on the surface, like good sense.

The Bury MP pointed out that local towns are penalised in this way when big out-of-town shopping centres offer free parking.

The move may be part of the lobby to encourage people generally to use cars less, but surely the more practical policy would be to promote free parking at all shopping complexes.

That way, towns like Bolton and Bury start off level with the "big boys" like Trafford, and can then market their strengths to potential visitors knowing that visitors can park easily.

Other towns have already demonstrated that free parking aids commercial success, even against the attractions of an enormous shopping complex. Bolton needs to throw off the yoke of costly parking if it is to look towards a successful Millennium.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.