Newton Abbot changes 'won't kill town' says MP

Angry protests greeted start of work

Newton Abbot’s new MP has disputed claims that changes to traffic in the centre of the town will kill off local businesses.

Liberal Democrat Martin Wrigley, who overturned a large Conservative majority to oust sitting MP Anne Marie Morris at the general election last month, says the new layout will be a boost for the town.

The third of seven phases of the scheme is due to start next Monday. The aim is to widen and resurface footways, make pedestrian crossings safer, upgrade a bus stop, add more public seating and plant new trees.

Supporters say it will make the town centre cleaner, safer and more attractive for shoppers, but opponents point to the loss of parking spaces as a disaster for trade.

More than half of the on-street parking in the area around Queen Street will be axed, and there will be no on-street parking at all between Courtenay Street and Albany Street. Angry protests greeted the start of the work in May.

As leader of Teignbridge Council and chairman of the area’s highways and traffic orders committee, Mr Wrigley was an outspoken advocate of the new layout. Since being elected as an MP he has relinquished both of those roles, but remains a staunch supporter of the project.

He said: “Change is difficult and I really sympathise with the traders.

“But there was a by-election in the town which was a Lib Dem versus a Save Queen Street candidate, and the Lib Dem won. This hasn’t been an issue for local residents.

“It’s an issue for the traders and I fully understand that. Teignbridge has been doing everything it can to help traders through the process, and at the end, it will be better. 

“I get emails from people who say they are really looking forward to it. It’s going to be so much easier to move around with wider pavements, it will be a nicer shopping experience. 

“The aim is to have a place where people will go to shop and stay and spend more money rather than driving through, failing to find a parking space and going somewhere else.”

And, he said, he disagreed with claims that losing parking spaces would kill off the town centre.

“What we’re doing is removing the through traffic, not removing traffic and not removing parking,” he said. “We are just removing 28 parking places. If 47 businesses claim that the loss of 28 parking spaces will kill their business, then I’m sorry but that can’t be true.”