Sir – I comment on Les Sibley’s letter about the central library, hotel, and office complex under construction and the shortage of parking to be caused by it.

Whilst I agree with Les he is far too late. The problems to come were perfectly obvious two years ago, when Cherwell District Council had their public exhibition of this proposed complex. Residents were invited to view complex drawings and comment.

As usual the complex drawings were extremely difficult for the untrained public to comprehend but I heard people asking how could the increased parking be accommodated. As well as discussing the proposal with Cherwell officers, I filled in a form with my concerns.

This resulted in a long letter of assurance from a senior Cherwell officer that the most careful study had been made and they were totally confident. I was flabbergasted. It perfectly obvious to any regular user of the multi-storey parking complex that it would not and could not cope. Any protestations about the impending problems should have been made then. Did Bicester Town Council make any?

The multi-storey car park also worked properly when it opened but it does not work now and has not for an age. Cameras and screens fail to work going in and out, and allow vehicles to come in when the facility is full up. Lifts break down. These problems are obvious to users.

Protestations to come from the public will be about the huge size of the building when finished, and how it is out of scale with the rest of the complex, its surroundings and Sheep Street. This would not have been obvious to the public at the exhibition.

Donald Robinson
St Edburg’s Close