I am of the opinion that if the square must be altered then options 1 & 2 on there own are not suitable as they stand I have been a Rochford Taxi Driver for the past 11 years. an altered version of option1 would be preferred with double row of taxis inside the island so we are not losing 40% of our trading area,as seems to have been proposed by the chamber of commerce in the past....would they like to lose 40% of there retail space? .In my opinion It appears that there has been very little thought if any given to the elderly and infirm residents that use the taxis to do there shopping Etc in the square some of these are so infirm we regularly take them to the day centre and doctors in back lane, these customers will not be able to carry their shopping or get themselves to a taxi rank in back lane which being out of sight of the main square and in an insecure area to wait this is not a safe area for vunerable elderly and infirm passengers to wait.
Option1 Shows pay to park bays on the roadside of the pavement island this would be good six days a week but on Market days these space should revert to a taxi rank as the market traders will take all of the square for their stalls.
I still believe that having any public parking will not stop some of the general public will still queue for any spaces and this will still result in problems for buses and others trying to get into West St.
Finally when the uk government has taken on board that the loss of town centre parking is detrimental to high street trade why is R.D.C. determined to to change the square? if only to sort out the queues going into west st then put down RED LINES or a YELLOW BOX and enforce them with regular CEO patrols and or cameras.