Got talking to a nice fella called Michael Castle in the shower this morning.

I should probably explain - we'd both been to the gym so it was all perfectly above board.

I've never met Michael before but he's organiser of the local branch of the Equality for Veterans Association.

The conversation turned to parking and Michael was quite happy for me to quote his view that "the council's destroying the town centre by making it as hard as possible to park anywhere".

Sunday morning, he took a walk down to Thomas Watson's auctioneers and several cars outside had parking tickets.

Is it fair enough to make it as hard as possible to park without having to pay or is it an over-zealous reaction to council funding being cut?

I suspect it's the latter because there has definitely been a change of attitude lately and I don't think it's good for the local economy.

It's definitely a growing talking point around the town and one we'll be taking a close look at - from all sides of the debate - in the next few days.