Dartmouth residents are being urged to act before up to 40 all-day parking spaces are lost in the town. In response to requests from residents and businesses Devon County Council has earmarked restrictions to parking in ten areas of the town, including Higher Street, Flavel Place, North Embankment and Victoria Place.

Proposed measures include installing double yellow lines on sections of Higher Street, Flavel Place and Mount Boone; banning motorhomes parking overnight on North Embankment; and limited waiting to one hour on sections of Higher and Anzac Streets.

As part of the Devon County Council Local Waiting Restriction Programme residents and businesses have until June 27 to register their approval or opposition to the measures.

Cllr Jonathan Hawkins, of Devon County and South Hams, said: “The county council has advertised for consultation possible changes to parking in Dartmouth. The changes have been requested by business and residents over the past few years. They are only proposals and are for consultation. It’s very important and I would ask that anyone opposed to them, or in support, please let county know.”

At this week’s full Dartmouth Town Council meeting Cllr Hawkins stressed the need to gather as many views as possible about the new traffic proposals, including a co-ordinated response from the town council.

At the Guildhall he said: “The council has put lines in parts of the town before and then things have changed and the lines have been removed. County can’t afford to do that now so we need to hear the views of as many people as possible so we can get it right.”

Town councillors said, while they understood the need for some proposals such as emergency access problems at Lower Fairview Road etc, most of the other proposals would take much needed all-day parking away from businesses and people who work in the town.

Dartmouth Town Council agreed to take a poll of councillors views to send a co-ordinated response, after consulting with residents and business owners.

Dartmouth resident Teddy Cranmer actively opposed similar measures in 2011 and 2013. As a member of ‘Residents Oppose Parking Enforcement’ Teddy delivered 977 signatures of opposition to parking restrictions to Devon County Hall.

He said: “They’d never had as many signatures and dropped the idea straight away. In 2011 they wanted to put in parking meters and in 2013 they wanted to put yellow lines here, there and everywhere around the town. I guess there must’ve been a change of staff now and they don’t know the extent of opposition in the town.

“The residents in Mount Boone and Lower Fairview Road have a legitimate grouse due to emergency access problems and we’re not disputing parking restrictions in those streets. What is concerning is the loss of unrestricted parking spots in the lower town. I hear a number of disquieting comments and I think Devon County Council is going to get a flood of complaints. The old ways of writing letters have gone. Now we need to fill in an online form, which in some ways is easier and better.”

Sally Hibbert, who lives off Higher Street, has set up a Facebook group to oppose the measures.

She said: “Taking away these spaces will have a massive impact on the residents and workers that have to park in the town. It’s very hard to get a parking space as it is, especially in the summer. This will make it ten times worse. I have a daughter with medical issues and, like many others in the town, need accessible parking spaces, not just be sent up to the park and ride.”

Sally and Teddy are gauging support for a public meeting in the Guildhall on the issue.

A Devon County Council statement on the proposed measures said: “The County Council regularly receives requests for waiting restrictions to be introduced or amended. These can be difficult to deliver due to resource and funding pressures. This can then have a negative impact on the County Council’s relationship with local communities. Recognising this difficulty, a managed process has been developed to deliver an annual local waiting restriction programme, for the funding and delivery of waiting restriction schemes. The restrictions are being proposed to resolve minor local issues that have been reported to the council and considered as part of the South Hams Highways and Traffic Orders Committee annual local waiting restrictions programme.”