On July 1, my wife and I had the pleasure of shopping with our daughter in the Oxfordshire market town of Witney (where they used to make the blankets).

And although it was a Saturday we could not believe how busy it was; no closed down shops, no boarded up shops, in fact no empty shops of any description.

The secret? Totally free parking 24/7 off street, on street.

In fact when we spoke to some of the locals we were told it’s as busy as this any day of the week, so busy in fact they had to build a multi-storey car park to cope with all the visiting shoppers from the surrounding villages.

How is the car parking paid for? I have not got a clue. What I do know is it works.

Take note Bridport - the first 2 hours of parking free would help before any more of our shops disappear forever.

Peter Pinker

Bridport