Okehampton residents have reacted with outrage to a Devon County Council proposal to introduce more on-street parking restrictions in the centre of the town.

Residents have voiced their opposition to the proposal across social media suggesting that it would ‘kill the town’ as it would dissuade people from visiting and create more traffic problems.

Shopowner Dawn Bell, who owns The Cubby Hole on St James Street, said: ‘The amount of customers I have lost over parking. My shop is the kind where you never know what you are going to get so people are browsing and then the husbands come in going “parking, the parking ticket!” All the old folk aren’t going to cope with the parking meters and they are an eyesore. Do we really want them stuck in our streets?

‘This has been going on for years and the council need to sort it out.’

She has also raised concerns that the parking meters may be susceptible to vandalism with the potential for damage, graffiti and attempts to steal money from the meters.

Okehampton Town Councillor and West Devon Borough Councillor Tony Leech has also criticised the county council’s proposal.

He said: ‘I’m not sure what Devon County Council want to achieve by saying that it will help the parking situation. I don’t think we have a parking situation apart from where we’ve got parking restrictions. It tends to force people to park their cars elsewhere on the periphery of the town - take Station Road and Crediton Road, they get clogged up by parking there to work.

‘We have bigger traffic issues which could be made worse. We should be putting together a very good response because all our town centres especially the smaller ones are fragile and anything that will deter people from coming to the town even for half an hour to pop into the shop will be detrimental to the town.’

Devon County Council put forward a similar suggestion several years ago which the town council successfully opposed and there is now a free one-hour on-street parking system in place along many of the town centre’s main roads.

Ms Bell, who fears that Okehampton could become a ‘forgotten town,’ has suggested extending the free parking limit to a two hours similar to the parking restrictions found in Tavistock so that people continue to visit the town.

She added: ‘Okehampton is getting bigger and we are getting more people in on the train which is great but all the residents of the new houses are going to Launceston and Exeter and it’s not bringing business into Okehampton. I think if we had two hour free parking like in Tavistock it would stop Okehampton becoming a forgotten town.’

However, Cllr Leech has suggested leaving the current parking system in place as it already works well.

As yet, it is uncertain as to which roads would be affected by possible pay and display parking and what the conditions might be as the county council review the town’s parking management.

Okehampton’s county councillor Lois Sanuel has confirmed that there will be a consultation into the proposal and will inform communities of any developments.

It has already been confirmed that county councillors are considering implementing more on-street parking restrictions in Tavistock, but it has now been established that Okehampton is one of the eight towns also chosen for a traffic management review.

In response to the county council’s proposal, the Tavistock BID has launched ‘Stop the Meters!’ a petition and crowdfunding campaign which is calling on the Tavistock business community to defend the right to park for free on the street which petition organisers argue is essential for the businesses in the town.

The county council is also investigating the possibility of introducing pay and display parking meters in Braunton, Crediton, Dartmouth, Honiton, Salcombe and Sidmouth.