Two parking areas in the city - Fore Street outside independent vegetarian and vegan pizza restaurant The Flat and next to Exeter Library in Musgrave Row behind the main High Street area - are now home to new seating areas.
The two parklets have been funded through the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund and has been commissioned by InExeter, the business improvement district for Exeter City Centre.
The aim of the parklets - a concept of transforming parking spaces on the street into a community space - has been to provide more seating and expand public spaces in Exeter city centre. However, since their installation, they have divided opinion.
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Businesses on Fore Street seem positively delighted by it, with some hoping it may be the first step to a more pedestrian-friendly Fore Street. But There has been some ridicule over the plans from locals on social media.
One person though, writing in our our sister print title the Express and Echo, has said that they thought the concept and idea was a 'poor April Fools joke'. They add that they should take them away, apologise profusely and commit to training in how to spend public funds appropriately.
Read the full letter below
If it had been possible for your report on the two ‘parklets’ (Group defends ‘parklets’ in city centre after criticism, March 14) to be postponed to appear on April 1, it would be thought of as a poor April Fools joke. Sadly not!
The claim that the two ridiculous lumps of “galvanised steel and composite decking”, apparently (and unfortunately) indestructible, would “enhance our urban landscape” – at the eye-watering cost of £25,000 each – is frankly ludicrous.
An even more ridiculous claim is that they will “provide more seating and expand public spaces in Exeter”. Each of them provides seating for about eight people.
The one in Fore Street juts out into the road and reduces public spaces. The one below the library takes up several former disabled parking spaces and the seating faces the wall. Who would want to sit there when they could be warm and comfortable in the library?
Apparently, InExeter, which commissioned the ‘parklets’, is “committed to listening to feedback to address any issues that arise”. It should take them away, apologise profusely and commit to training in how to spend public funds appropriately.
Carley Brown
Pennsylvania Park, Exeter
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