WILTSHIRE leader Jane Scott has said she will listen to the people of Salisbury and do something about the city’s ruinous parking charges.

After facing sustained criticism at a public meeting in the Guildhall last night (Wednesday) she said: “I am sincerely sorry that we let the city down.”

It may be too soon to claim victory for the Journal’s Show Some Sense campaign, because cllr Scott made no specific promises, even after facing repeated calls to restore the one-hour charging band.

Her chief executive Andrew Kerr said the council would want evidence of the damage being done to the city’s economy by the charging regime introduced in April.

But her announcement that Cabinet transport boss Dick Tonge will meet business leaders in the city on Tuesday was for many an indication that Wiltshire’s leadership is listening to the people of Salisbury.

Cllr Scott was clearly baffled about why the council’s public consultation on its transport strategy had failed to pick up on the problems the new charges would create for Salisbury, although she accepted that something had gone badly wrong.

She said: “The consultation was the same across the whole county. We heard a great deal from people in Amesbury, Devizes, Trowbridge and Mere.

“We must look at what the dynamics of the city are that make it very difficult to get a response to consultation.”