The work to spruce up Whitestrand in Salcombe was due to be finished yesterday, although the new “nautical themed” benches have yet to be installed.

The new benches have divided opinion in the town since a photograph of a prototype of the benches was uploaded to social media last month.

The photo shows a ‘mock up’ of how the benches will look, using wood from pallets (teak will be used in the finished product). South Hams District Council have asked us not to publish the photos, and instead have sent the plans.

The benches have a “nautical flavour”, with a steel frame and teak seating. The benches sit on a capstone with rope entwined around forming the armrests.

District Cllr Simon Wright, ward member for Salcombe said: “Following the Whitestrand consultation in October, seating was discussed. The general view was that we needed to retain as many seats as possible, but they needed to be more flexible, for example to turn around and face the war memorial, or face into Whitestrand for a concert. As a result, the benches pivot on a single pedestal and are adaptable for local functions.”

Cllr Wright continued: “I think this is a great example of SHDC listening to Salcombe and providing a more flexible seating area for the benefit of all.

“The new benches are being made by a local contractor called Landmarc,” he said. “They can swivel to face different directions to enable the space to be used in a more flexible way. This gives the community the option to turn the seats towards the memorial or adapt the space for community events, in a way that bolted traditional benches do not. The Whitestrand improvement works are due to be completed in time for the school holidays when the town will welcome lots of visitors.”

But at last week’s Salcombe Town Council, a number of concerns were raised about the work at Whitestrand.

Addressing the town’s district councillors, town mayor Cllr Mike Fice said: “Putting aside the design, we request that we have the same number of benches as before, and that they face the water. Looking at the bases that have been installed, it looks like we only have five benches instead of the eight that were there before, and they seem to be set at various angles.”

Cllr Wright assured the council that there would be the same number of benches as before. And district Cllr Judy Pearce explained: “There’s a slight angle, so you can see around the people sitting in front of you, and the capstones can be moved.”

Cllr Tony Lang took issue with the idea of swivelling benches for concerts: “If there’s a concert in Whitestrand, people on the benches will be looking at the back of the stage!”

While Cllr Graeme Lennox stated the design looks like “something out of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean”.

Cllr Fice questioned the placement of the railings on the slipway: “The risk assessment stated that railings wouldn’t be in place if there was less than a two metre drop, but they seem to have been installed where they are unnecessary.

“They’ve put up the side of the slipway, where there is far less than a two metre drop, and where people like to sit.”

This week, Cllr Fice stated that he personally didn’t like the benches, but is aware that lots of people do. He said that the design was sent to the town council, the council’s view was that “we didn’t like them”, but they were then told that SHDC thought the design was “appropriate”.

Cllr Fice said his main concern is “how long the benches will last” and said he was unhappy that some of Salcombe Town Council’s concerns were ignored.

“We’re unhappy that the plinth has been removed,” he said. “There used to be two tiers of seating but this has now gone. Cllr Pearce suggested that we had asked for the plinth to be removed due to it being dangerous - but this isn’t true. I’m not sure the consultation in October asked for what we’ve got now, and there were never designs put forward for the new benches.”

Cllr Fice continued: “The main thing that’s annoying now is the timing of the work - it’s completely the wrong time of year to be doing this work. There have been lots of ‘mutterings’ from visitors about this.

“I’m please that SHDC are prepared to put money into improving Whitestrand, but it can be quite annoying when they don’t listen to people on the ground,” he said.

“We all live and work in Salcombe and know the town. We just wish they’d listen to local opinion,” Cllr Fice added.

There are no plans for further work at Whitestrand, except long-term plans to build a new Harbour Master’s office.