Holiday let users and residents using street bins in Tenby for household waste, needs addressing, councillors for the seaside town have stated.

The discussions were sparked following correspondence from a resident of the town who stated that ongoing problems with a public bin situated alongside the town’s train station car park had not been addressed, as the bin is being used for the disposal of genera household waste, and when full, rubbish bags are just being left on the pavement alongside at all hours of the day, for seagulls to rip open, causing a ‘disgusting mess’.

Discussing the ongoing issue at this month’s meeting of Tenby Town Council, Cllr Paul Rapi said it was known that Pembrokeshire County Council had been taking bins away around the town, as people were filling them with their household rubbish.

“There are fewer and fewer bins left in Tenby which is creating an ever-decreasing circle. It is not getting any easier. We all know there have been cutbacks but bins used to be washed and the bins need updating. The concept of two sides, one for waste and one for recycling is farcical, two black bags from each bin and no recycling!” he remarked.

Cllr Rapi wished to highlight an incident where he witnessed holidaymakers staying in flats in Lower Frog Street with white waste bags heading to the bin on the Paragon steps, where they had been ‘advised’ to dispose of their rubbish.

He advised them that this was illegal, and suggested leaving bags in the flat, before personally writing to the holiday firm subsequently to ask why they were letting this happen. “Nothing seems to be being done about it and PCC need to put a stop to it!” he added.

Cllr Laurence Blackhall agreed that it was a problem that needed looking at for the whole town, as he himself opens St Julian’s Church down the harbour, and has witnessed visitors from holiday lets putting bottles in the adjacent bins, then the bins having just been emptied, are full before the day has even started.

“Residents are using street bins for their household waste. There is still this issue with holiday properties where signage advises that visitors take their rubbish to council bins,” he said, feeling that it was beholden to holiday letting companies to write to all clients including Airbnbs giving a clear statement that this was against the law.

“Morale is low with rubbish collectors,” added the Mayor, Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall. They suffer abuse from holiday makers when they tell them that they cannot use street bins for domestic waste and they get complaints when the bin is full. They cannot win!”

The Mayor said that an idea to have seagull proof bags issued to everyone in town could help combat littering issues, but had been told by PCC that if they give to Tenby then they have to give to everyone in the county.

Cllr Duncan Whitehurst suggested this was a symptom of success due to the spectacular marketing of Pembrokeshire. “We see a huge influx of visitors. Waste removal is under pressure, it is one of the services rationalised as PCC seek to make budget savings,” he commented.

“These are hard times but PCC gets lots of revenue through car parks, toilets and business rates from this town. What are we getting back?”

The Mayor Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall agreed that Pembrokeshire Council needed to understand that things were different in the south of the county to the north.

“We do not have a ‘season’ in the town anymore and we have visitors all year round. Contrary to what some may think, Tenby is not paved with gold and sometimes, as one of the town’s county councillors, I feel like I am wading through treacle getting people to acknowledge this at County Hall,” she said.

Cllr Sue Lane said it was not just down to PCC. “Property owners are making a lot of money and they should be responsible for taking their rubbish away, cleaners should be disposing of it. It is lazy and greedy.

“All they seem to do is pile it back on PCC to sort out. They are making money from this and they need to do it properly with proper trade waste agreements,” she told her fellow councillors.