There was a spat at last week’s town council meeting of the town project committee between the chairman Cllr Paul Young and Cllr Louis Parkin.

An argument came to a head over the plan to allow a rally of Harley Davidson bikes organised by Michael Collins and the Blue Ridge Runners classic vehicles to take place along the seafront closing the road. The manager of the pier was unhappy with the proposal saying she represented the Pavilion, the traders of Pier Street and some in the High Street and they all strongly objected “in the strongest possible terms.”

She was concerned that if the road was closed to coaches they would not come to the town - and coaches brought with them lots of visitors to the town's shops and businesses and she was concerned that bikers would bring with them problems.

“With the greatest respect to you councillors,” said Ms Parkin, “but you have not been in the tourism business. We know collectively from over 200 years of experience what works and what doesn’t work in our area. Firstly they [bikers] are not good. Coaches are a strategic part of our business and closing the Esplanade will stop them from coming as drivers work on a tight schedule and do not do diversions.”

She said that the first coach driver to “hit the road block” would text other coach drivers and give “Saunders Garden Centre a fantastic day”. Up to 20 coaches a day was the norm she said meaning 1,000 customers would be turned away along with the normal routine buses that would be diverted. She suggested that the bikers should be moved to the short stay car park owned by Sedgemoor who she admitted may object, or otherwise to send the bikes further down the Esplanade.

Concerning the bikers she said: "While I know they are very nice people, I personally have seen too many resorts ruined by an inflow of bikers that dominate the area and have a devastating impact on tourism. That's not just my personal experience of West Bay and Cheddar but remember I am related to about 50 percent of the amusements around the coast of Britain and I am in contact with them all the time."

She drew a parallel with Weston-super-Mare pier which she said was built by “civilians” who “didn’t have any prior knowledge of the leisure industry. In their first season they couldn’t make the pier work she said as Weston-super-Mare seafront shuts down at 6pm even in the summer.

She said: “I know because we get an enormous amount of customers who come straight afterwards for something to eat and something to do. Burnham doesn’t close until 10pm from Easter through to November. So I would say we are doing something right that Weston isn’t.”

She asked the council not to close the road and “jeopardize their trade” as “coaches were too important”. Ms Parkin said: "Unanimously, along the seafront, we don't want that road closures - coaches are too important to us."

At this stage of the meeting a sharp exchange took place.

The chairman of the meeting Cllr Young said: “I think we are in agreement with you. Were you here earlier?”

Ms Parkin said: “Are you being sarcastic?”

Cllr Young: “No.”

Ms Parkin: “Well try opening your eyes. You are just sat there.”

Cllr Young: “Well the council are unanimous.”

Ms Parkin: “You haven’t actually had a vote on it yet.”

Cllr Young: “We’ll do that when we get to it.”

Earlier councillors on the committee had discussed the plan for the bike rally as it would bring in new visitors to the town if it was advertised properly as Harley Davidson bikes were of interest to the public. Cllr Peter Burridge Clayton suggested the Town Team could help organise the event and volunteers could help. Other councillors said it could be an annual event and there was space south of Bay View Café for it which was agreed. Cllr John Parkes said he wanted to know if the 1,000 extra people came to the event whether they would spend money in the shops “and put their hands in their pockets.” The chairman Cllr Young said he felt it was established that if people owned a Harley Davidson then they “had a little bit of money in their pockets.” The town centre manager had hoped the rally would be closer to the shops but it was decided to have it away from the centre to avoid disruption to traffic. The committee will now recommend the plan to full council.

Michael Collins said the Harley Davidson group had 25 years of experience in running and marshalling biker events and they had their own insurance for the rally planned for May 1. Cllr Young said they could give the event “the thumbs up on that one.”

Would you like to see more vintage cars, classic motorcycles and other motoring events held in the town? Your views to harry.mottram@nqsw.co.uk