Paris councillors have voted to axe the Grande Roue, the city’s version of the London Eye.

The ferris wheel, operated by the “fairground king” Marcel Campion, will be closed from July 2018.

Councillors voted almost unanimously against renewing Campion’s licence for the attraction, which has sat intermittently on the Place de la Concorde near the Louvre museum since 1993.

Permanent removal of the wheel would help protect the area’s “historic visual appearance”, they said.

The deputy mayor, Bruno Julliard, said the councillors indicated they were not against a ferris wheel being erected elsewhere.

The attraction could be set up in time for next year’s Christmas holidays, he said, adding: “Anyone could apply to run it, even Marcel Campion.”

The decision comes as a further blow to Campion, who has been embroiled in various legal troubles in recent years. In July, the council voted to axe the Christmas market he has run on the Champs Élysées since 2008.

Some local lawmakers complained that the quality of the items for sale was not in keeping with an avenue that hosts luxury labels such as Louis Vuitton. They want the Christmas market to be replaced with a more upmarket site selling products made in Paris.

Funfair operators and market stallholders blocked main roads around the capital this month in the latest of several protests over the decision.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said this week Campion had been told “we cannot suffer the permanent threat of having the capital blockaded”.