‘We were wrong over parking in £50m plan’

The Conservatives had fiercely defended reduced parking plans at the planned Seaway leisure complex, including a multi-storey car park with 555 spaces – down from 661 currently at the site.

But just one month after losing control of the council, the party has admitted it was something they “didn’t get right” - and are now urging the new Labour-led coalition to provide the full 661 spaces.

A motion was tabled by Tory councillors Kevin Buck and Meg Davidson.

Mr Buck said: “This has come from a review where we looked at the past year or so of decisions made while we were in administration. We reflected upon some of the aspects of Seaway, listened to the businesses and the seafront traders, and as councillor Tony Cox has acknowledged, there are some things we didn’t get right.”

Council deputy leader, Independent councillor Ron Woodley, said it was “strange”. He said: “The Conservatives had three years to make amendments and they didn’t, but now they want to change everything.”

He added that the motion appears to be “political”.

Labour councillor Matt Dent said: “What has changed since they made agreements with the developer Turnstone? Why is it viable now when it wasn’t a few months ago? Is this even possible, when the Conservatives signed off the plan.”

Joan Tiney, chair of the Seafront Traders Association, said the proposal seemed suspicious. She said: “This seems very strange and I feel like there is more to it than meets the eye.”

The former chair of the association, Paul Thompson, also has a history of clashing with the Conservatives over the plans but welcomed the motion.

He said Mr Cox was “far more politically astute” than his predecessors and the important thing will be whether the new administration agrees.

Adventure Island owner Philip Miller MBE, added: “It’s good news the new man in charge of the Conservatives, Mr Cox, recognises the mistakes of the past and wants to put them right.”