The Tauranga CBD has declined over the last couple of years.

There is only one-quarter of the shops left in town and the majority of the people in town are either working or studying at the university.

The issue that most people have with the CBD is parking. People are forced into paying an all-day parking fee that costs around $6 - $8. When added up over the five days most people work that comes to a total of $30 - $40 a week.

For university students, the majority of the time they are already struggling financially.

They either can't afford to pay for the all-day parking or they most likely have trouble finding a park.

Otherwise, if they use the free two-hour parks, they have to go out and move their car every two hours.

People are more attracted to places like Bayfair and The Crossing as they have a variety of decent stores, with a considerable amount of free parks.

As nobody wants to pay money for a car park when there are other options.

A solution to this is to reduce parking fees along The Strand and in the big parking buildings. The public has voiced their opinion many times and the Tauranga City Council does not seem to consider their advice.

Instead, the parking prices keep going up and are driving people away.

The Tauranga City Council needs to figure out a solution to bring people back into town by sorting out parking in the CBD to benefit a range of people.

S Wagner, Otumoetai College