Margaret Stranger’s letter (‘Parking the problem’, Beacon letters 14th August) proposes using the Dixton Road site as park and ride parking. It’s worth thinking about, if only to realise that we’re stuck in a car-centric way of thinking. Induced demand, where providing more roads and parking feeds demand for even more of the same, means that Monmouth could be ruined by car parks (as if it weren’t already) long before we realise that they haven’t ‘solved’ Monmouth’s infrastructure problems.

Regarding Ms Stranger’s letter, in my view the main problem is not ‘where are people going to park?’ but ‘why do people need to park?’. I would love to be able to come to Monmouth without my car. Whilst it seems logical to write: ‘Those of us who live in villages without a bus service know how difficult the parking in Monmouth is’, it seems to me that there are links missing: Why is there no bus service? Why do they need to use a car?

Pollution from transport contributes to the climate emergency. We need positive action to provide alternatives to cars - and cut demand for parking spaces as a consequence. Improved pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure can cut pollution, as can reintroducing bus services to link towns and rural areas: More parking is not the missing link.

Madeleine Boase (Llanfaenor)