Park and ride protesters march in shopping centre

7:31pm Sunday 7th October 2001

POLICE and additional security were alerted to The Harlequin shopping centre in Watford on Saturday as more than 100 people marched through the mall in protest of Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) - the company behind The Harlequin - proposed park and ride scheme.

Around 150 protesters gathered outside the shopping centres main entrance next to Waterstones bookshop at 11am with banners and posters highlighting their disgust at the scheme, which has to date been heavily supported by Watford Council and is set to encroach upon protected Greenbelt land in Bushey.

The demonstration organised Mr George Cook of The North Bushey Community group, saw protesters march though the shopping centre passing every shop on the top and ground level before exiting through the same doors in which they entered.

Universal chants of "What do want - Greenbelt, what do we not want - Park and Ride," over-ruled the ordinary hustle and bustle of happy shoppers at the shopping centre as the determined protesters alerted the public of their cause.

A key organiser and an avid campaigner since the onset, Mr Cook said: "The key aim of today is to exhibit the strength of local demonstration and bring the issue of to the hub of Watford."

The protest is the second to have been staged by the North Bushey Community Group following the initial proposal in August and focused in particular on staff and shoppers of the John Lewis department store, which is currently the largest tenant of The Harlequin Centre.

A fellow protester and spokesman for Watford Green Party, Mr Steve Rackett, said: "We have asked all our members here today to write to John Lewis to try and highlight further our grievances and concerns surrounding the proposed scheme, in an aim to try and encourage the company to put pressure on CSC to withdraw such plans.

"There still appears to be a great number of people in Watford who are ill-informed as to the amount of traffic such a scheme will generate locally. Hopefully today we have made more people aware of the pitfalls of this scheme."