SIR – I read with some mirth the story that explained free parking being introduced for three months at the Council-run Oastler Centre car park (T&A, March 24).

While I am not against this action, I do question how the Labour leadership feels a couple of hours’ free parking will be the saviour – I personally think not.

The major selling point, as pointed out in the editorial on page 8, seems to be “good news for trade…get more people in the centre”.

Can I take from that that the proposed parking metres to be deployed in Keighley and other small towns could have the opposite effect? We all know parking metres are a ‘cash cow’, and with the state of Council finance and the recently-passed budget, this will be stealth taxation on already-struggling families, and will add more pressure on to our independent traders, who are struggling from the previous stealth taxation and red tape of Labour.

Remember Gordon Brown. Ian Greenwood will take you down the same road. The zero base council tax this year had nothing to do with him – it was George Osbourne and extra funding from the Government.

Coun Glen Miller, The Chase, Keighley