INFURIATED councillors are calling for “carpet-bagging” mobile vendors to be kicked out of a genteel seaside town.

Last summer residents were left upset after ice cream sellers and coffee vendors pitched up next to Frinton’s Greensward, which is prized for its lack of commercialisation.

By-laws already prevent selling on greensward, promenade and cliffs, but councillors want restrictions to be expanded.

Town councillors have now unanimously supported calls for Tendring Council to use its legal powers to designate further streets as prohibited.

Frinton councillor Terry Allen said: “All through the summer, traders with cars were putting adverts down the roads, flags on the beach and signs advertising the selling of coffee – it’s really not on.

“These people, I call them carpet-baggers, just turn up, take what they can and disappear - no rent, no rates, no nothing.

“They want to come here and make a quick buck.”

The historic term describes opportunistic travelling traders, who carried cheap luggage made from fabric and were perceived to exploit local people.

Mr Allen added: “We get people come for a weekend and they want to get a hotdog on the beach.

“Well there’s loads of place like that – go to Clacton or Walton – they cater for it.

“If you want a nice quiet place, come to Frinton.

“This is a town by the sea not a seaside resort – and we should keep it that way.”

Fellow ward councillor Nick Turner said many of the streets are in a conservation area and need protection from the “nuisance” of street trading in the town, which has been inundated with visitors since the start of the Covid pandemic.

Frinton Residents’ Association’s Alan Eldret called on the councils to deal with the matter urgently before the holiday season.

“We have a very good town centre that can provide the goods that would be provided by the street traders,” he said.

“We do not want their trade undermined in the busy times and should offer some protection as we want to keep these businesses.”

Tendring Council has asked the town council to provide justification and evidence to support any future decision.