REFERENCE free buses instead of free car parking, Echo Saturday, February 15, I wish to comment on the town council Green Party proposal to replace the free parking for Weymouth town centre pre-Christmas, with free bus travel on those days.

Weymouth bus routes do not serve many parts of the town's catchment (an area much larger than the town council area), and to walk from the nearest bus stop, which could be up to a mile or greater, with heavy and bulky Christmas presents, will not take place.

With the attractiveness of free parking in Weymouth not available shoppers will go elsewhere and this will be a further nail in the coffin for our town centre, which is starting to show signs of surviving.

This will not reduce the carbon emissions, but will most likely increase them, and could deprive our shops of their most profitable time of the year possibly leading to closure.

Car owners are described as “generally more well off", just the people who will spend the most money in our shops, and can afford to go to Poole or Dorchester to do their Christmas shopping, leading to increasing emissions.

Please don’t kill our town.

Gerald Mabb

Ambleside

Weymouth