Torbay traders campaign against pedestrianisation

Traders in a seaside resort fighting a council decision to close their "golden mile" to cars have said the scheme is hitting profits and leaving them vulnerable to closure.

The trial pedestrianisation of Paignton's Torbay Road began in October.

On Wednesday, business owners held a protest to voice their objections.

Torbay Council said they had engaged with the community and concerns would be considered in future decisions.

But in the meantime, traders said they were suffering.

Riccardo Sozzi, who runs surf shop "Stoked" on Torbay Road, said his trade was 56% down on last year.

Following the closure of the road, he said he had suffered his first day without a sale since 1997.

While Torbay Council said a public consultation found 60% of 640 respondents supported the measures, Mr Sozzi said that was "just one per cent" of the 69,000 population of Paignton.

He added: "There must be in the region of 40 businesses affected by this massive change."

Mr Sozzi said the road was known previously as the bay's "Golden Mile", but that takings were now down across a lot of businesses, many of which faced "throwing the towel in".

He claimed the traders' suggestion to have an alternative one-way system was yet to be considered by the council.

Proposed market stalls, he said, would have a "massive impact" on businesses with comparably high overheads.

Janet Mead said takings at Scoff's fish and chip shop were down by 40%.

She added: "They used to stop outside in the car, run in, order ready - and off they go. Now there's no teatime trade at all, it's all gone.

"It's killing us, absolutely killing us."

Torbay Council said it had engaged with the community on the scheme to transform Paignton town centre since 2015.

It said council representatives had now met with traders, "listened to concerns" and would conduct a survey before publishing a report at the end of January.

Many people were "enjoying the extra space" and felt more "comfortable and confident" shopping in a traffic-free environment, it said.

Work had been done to rectify issues to make the space "work for everyone", some traders supported the scheme and a discounted parking scheme was aimed at helping businesses, it added.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].