WHILE the Government is looking at boosting the economy of market towns in its Rural White Paper, Kennet District Council seems intent on shooting itself in the foot.

Its proposals to put up parking charges at the Station Road car park in Devizes is exactly the kind of move that drives shoppers to out-of-town centres such as Cribbs Causeway, near Bristol, or the Great Western Designer Outlet Village in Swindon.

In addition to penalising workers who are forced to use the car park, the council seems happy to encourage shoppers to look elsewhere.

The policy is driven, it claims by environmental pressure to get cars off the roads.

But in a rural county like Wiltshire, when the public transport alternative is so poor as to be no alternative at all, this is unworkable.

We trust the council will bid for the transport cash outlined in the White Paper to give commuters and shoppers a better deal.