Teignmouth councillors were divided over whether they should open up the Upper Den Carriageway in the town to increase the number of parking spaces during the summer months.

At present the area is closed to parking until September 10.

They were revisiting an item discussed previously by their finance and general purposes committee which called for the area to be open for parking to ease the shortage of car parking spaces in the town.

Cllr Iain Palmer said he supported this saying no-one had been injured in 20 years and people were in more danger from bikes.

But Cllr Richard Ash was opposed to this declaring: ‘This is a safe haven from traffic and emissions.’

Cllr Andrew Henderson said the area had been ‘rammed’ with people over Easter and would be even busier over the summer.

Cllr Sylvia Russell also opposed parking on the Upper Den Carriageway saying: ‘If we are going to say we are a family seaside resort we have to show we are a family resort.’

While Cllr Robert Phipps declared that the committee had ‘democratically voted’ to keep the Upper Den Carriageway open for parking. With the closure of the Brunswick Car park and shortage of parking spaces in the town it was ludicrous it could not be opened up.

Cllr Dave Matthews, chairman of car parking working group, said years of work had gone into trying to improve parking but he felt the upper carriageway should be closed to parking in the summer.

Mayor Peter Williams said: ‘My tendency is that there should be no cars parked on that carriageway during the summer months for aesthetic and safety reasons.’

He said more thought needed to be given to the issue before this could be followed up in the future.

They decided there will be no parking there this summer.