Madam,

Advancing Aberystwyth, using money levied on business rates in a restricted area of Aberystwyth under the Business Improvement District (BID), has installed touchscreen tourism kiosks in three town sites.

I have inspected the one in Terrace Road opposite the Stars shop on three occasions this week.

It was not working on any of these three days. It was unresponsive to touch. On 2 October the main panel was a boot-up screen. On 4 October it was blank.

What really surprised me was the advertising panel at the top of the screen that was scrolling through a series of advertisements for businesses in Llanelli and Swansea.

The latter city started a BID scheme before Aberystwyth. The main aim of these schemes seems to be to attract more tourists. If all towns run such schemes and the number of tourists is fixed, then there will be no additional footfall benefits.

If the new panels advertise Aberystwyth’s competitors then surely we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

Ceredigion council was patently partial in favour of the scheme. Had it not counted 14 votes for premises in town that it owned (some of which were empty), the ballot would have been lost.

I am not surprised that 31 businesses had to be taken to court this May for refusing to pay the BID levy.

Can Advancing Aberystwyth provide any evidence that their activities increase footfall to Aberystwyth businesses? If they don’t who pays - the owner or customers of these businesses?

On the one day that I inspected the panel by the railway station it appeared to be working. I had a look at its parking information. It stated that there were 15 parking spaces at the station that were free for two hours. There are several notices to the contrary fixed to the station wall within a few yards of the panel.

A smartphone with 4G and GPS will give you as much information as these panels.

Last May town councillors warned that the panels could be a hazard for pedestrians and people with disabilities.

The Terrace Road panel replaces two noticeboards that were painted in Aberystwyth’s insignia of yellow and gold. We have much street furniture painted in these colours. Can I ask why this unifying signature of Aberystwyth seems to have been abandoned in the last few years particularly outside the railway station and, of course, in the colour of the new touchscreen panels?

Yours etc,

David Kirby, Cae Melyn, Aberystwyth.

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