I noticed in the Gazette that South Lakeland District Council hadn't yet found an alternative free parking area for the New Road 'park' (Gazette, July 19 'Free car park search goes on').

Well the 'park' is finished but there's nowhere to sit, no toilets and nowhere to get refreshments. The Gooseholme foot bridge is still not rectified.

What a mess. It would have been common sense to have looked for an alternative for free parking before embarking on changing anything.

Personally, I would have tarmaced the whole thing and put lines for the cars.

Now I read that 6,900 penalty charge notices were dished out by Cumbria County Council in South Lakeland during 2017-2018, up from 4,832. That's a lot of money that is being made. Maybe some of it could be spent putting some seats or portable toilets in the 'park' now.

Dorinda Mackereth

Sedgwick