I wanted to clarify some points in last week’s Courier letters page from a different perspective.

When the objectors to the council’s current traffic easing measures in North Berwick refer to numbers of people both at last month’s meeting at St Andrew Blackadder and to the petition collected during the summer, numbers of supporters of both these events are misleading.

I would point out that, in 2020, the population of North Berwick was 7,800, since when, as we all know, many new houses in and around North Berwick have been built, so thus significantly adding to the population. The petition gathered 4,000 names during the summer months on the High Street, when the tourist season was at its height, and I personally can say as a daily user of High Street and its shops a lot of visitors and tourists signed the petition, so that 4,000 figure is not representative of a majority in North Berwick, as many signatures and supporters would be visitors for the day or on holiday.

In relation to the meeting at St Andrew Blackadder, again quoted as being a majority of voices, it was attended by roughly 200 people, not the majority of the town by a long way.

It should be remembered, I feel, that there is also a significant amount of people living in North Berwick and paying council tax, road tax etc who are not objecting to the council’s proposals; in fact, I would say the objectors are possibly in the minority.

Those of us who have lived here a long time have seen this happen many times. North Berwick cannot exist in the past, it has to move forward.

High Street itself is a danger to anyone trying to negotiate it regularly. An influx of dogs, people and all-round tourism due to Airbnb popularity has increased visitors; whilst I appreciate this benefits business in the town, it has also created problems.

In conclusion, I would also say that a significant amount of people if asked might say let’s pedestrianise High Street, make it an attractive place for people to visit and live, build a decent car park for which there would be a charge, repair the roads and infrastructure such as schools, medical facilities etc and, above all, if none of that is feasible, stop complaining about paying a small amount for parking your car, which is in line with virtually everywhere in any town, or for that matter country, you might want to park a car.

Maggie Kendall

North Berwick