Two Aberystwyth county councillors are at loggerheads over suggestions that pedestrianisation of parts of the town centre - introduced without consultation to deal with the coronavirus pandemic - could be here to stay.

The safe zones, which have been reintroduced for the summer, have seen road closures in several towns to allow for social distancing, with businesses able to use dedicated road or pavement space for outside seating.

Cllr Alun Williams, county councillor for Bronglais ward and Cabinet member, wrote in a blog last year that local debates about pedestrianisation, which “tend to become quickly polarised”, were “bypassed” thanks to pandemic rules, which allowed the council’s Gold Command to make decisions on keeping the county safe.

Cllr Williams added that “the Covid crisis has allowed Ceredigion to shortcut the usual processes into a traffic-free pilot”.

This week, fellow Aberystwyth county councillor Ceredig Davies, said in a post this week that “democracy appears to have gone out of the window”, and said Cllr Williams “sees the circumstances thrown up by the pandemic as an opportunity to advance a favoured agenda, namely a car-free town centre, without any consultation”.

In the blog on the Sustrans website, Cllr Williams said the initial safe zone scheme was “sparked by the immediate emergency circumstances without thought of a longer-term plan”. “But if the current arrangements are judged enough of a success, it would be hard for the council to ignore calls for something longer lasting,” he added.

“This could range from making the whole thing permanent - unlikely where trunk roads are involved - to keeping selected streets traffic-free or revisiting the scheme as a regular seasonal event. Whatever is decided, the Covid crisis has allowed Ceredigion to shortcut the usual processes into a traffic-free pilot that could become a model for more enlightened use of space in our towns.”

Cllr Davies added that the “long term aim of town pedestrianisation is a discredited concept in all but large towns and cities”.

“Large towns and cities benefit from decent public transport and the close proximity of adequate parking,” Cllr Davies said. “Where it is not practical, is in small rural towns, as we have in Ceredigion, with poor public transport and still poorer accessible parking.

“We should discourage cars from entering our town centres, but banning them merely replaces one set of issues with another.

“Put simply, the introduction of pedestrianisation denies access to services by those who have a mobility issues and makes access for the able-bodied so inconvenient that they simply take their custom somewhere else.

“Currently we are seeing pavement extensions being constructed in a number of streets in the town to prevent overcrowding and provide areas for dining outside. But what of the unintended consequences of making these features permanent as part of the drive by those that advocate pedestrianisation?

“Safe zones are with us for at least the summer months and only time will tell if they helped in any way with the Covid pandemic but going forward we need to guard against pedestrianisation, by default, becoming the legacy of the safe zones.”

Permission is in place for the safe zones until February 2022.

Cllr Williams was asked to comment.