Letter: Town centre plan - We have to be practical

Take Cambridge Street for example. Trees in raised beds nicely planted up and seating available. But why, for example, do we have to step out of Primark into large puddles after rain? Similarly, outside Boots, O2 and Swarovski.

Practical improvements like this would make such a difference to the visitors’ / shoppers’ experience. The area around the war memorial and Bettys is attractive and our parks department staff do a great job.

I, and I am sure others, who chose to live in Harrogate did so because of how it is. Are wholesale changes really so necessary? Open air cafes sound great, but here where we usually have more than our fair share of wind and often rain, not a practical idea.

If shops were open into the evening as in southern Europe, it might be justified, but another large empty space at the end of the day is not very inviting. Not to mention the abandoned chewing gum that would soon appear!

Having just returned from a spell in a country where you can relax in an outside cafe, to see a similar proposal for Harrogate is just not realistic.

Mrs EMM Heaton

Beech Grove, Harrogate