PENARTH residents have given their thoughts on a petition to save the hospitality seating along the Esplanade.

Traders have been given until June 30 to remove seating on the road, but a petition has been started in a bid to convince the Vale of Glamorgan Council to reverse this decision.

The petition says the seating has improved the Esplanade, and that encouraging more cars to visit the Esplanade will not help the Vale council reach net zero targets.

The seating was introduced during the pandemic as a way to support hospitality and currently blocks 13 parking spaces.

Penarth Times readers have had their say on the petition and if the seating should stay - with the overwhelming majority in favour of the seating remaining.

Andrew Williams said: "Signed. Makes a vibrant promenade and taking it away is a huge backward step [in my honest opinion].

"Not to mention the general need for less traffic, not more.

"Let’s face it, there’s too much anti-social and irresponsible driving along that stretch of road as it is, without encouraging more traffic."

Julie Dodge said: "Have signed. It's transformed the esplanade and made it into a buzzing vibrant destination.

"I guarantee they will regret removing this feature and it will be counter productive in the long run.

"Simply not worth the 13 parking spaces."

Other readers pointed out there has been extra parking made available elsewhere in Penarth.

Dai Naylor said: "The presence of outside seating areas has to my mind greatly improved the atmosphere of the whole area and should be retained.

"There have been increases in parking spaces recently on Beach Hill, Bridgeman Road, between Alexandra Court and Sea Banks and also both sides of the wide section of the road by the pier entrance.

"It would be nice to rebuild the multi-storey car park but the extra parking already provided more than makes up for the spaces lost to the outside seating areas."

The issue of a multi-storey car park was raised by other readers, including those that objected to the seating.

Scott McCarthy said: "The outdoor seating permissons were granted due to indoor Covid restrictions.

"With restrictions ending, it makes sense that special permissions are retracted.

"Also, rebuild the multi-storey!"

However, Mr McCarthy did not get much support from other readers, with many saying the seating had improved the area, and accusing the council of being short-sighted.

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Jemma Angove, the person who began the petition, said: "I started the petition because I was shocked to see that they were getting rid of the outdoor seating.

"It has brought a much needed lift to the beach and increased the footfall immensely.

"There is a big focus on reaching net zero for carbon emissions, yet the council want to encourage people to drive to the beach.

"Myself and others that I have spoken to are fed up of the council making decisions that affect the community with no consultation.

The petition, which can be viewed here, has 2,001 signatures at the time of writing.

Ms Angove said she couldn't believe how much support the petition has.

She said: "It would just be nice to have a seafront that is a nice place for people to go to rather than seeing a perpetual row of cars."