Businesses, residents and holidaymakers alike continue to be caught out in Saundersfoot disposing of household and commercial waste into public bins.

County councillor for the village’s south ward Cllr Chris Williams said that during March, as the holiday season started picking up in the community, there were the usual issues of fly-tipping into the public bins.

Letters went out at the turn of the year to self catering accommodation, holiday lets and businesses reminding owners that they are required by law to have appropriate arrangements in place for their waste and recycling.

Cllr Williams has worked alongside Pembrokeshire County Council to tackle illegal waste disposal around the village, and in particular those that leave a holiday property and wrongfully dump their rubbish in or around public bins.

A list of properties are now included in a trial to clampdown on the issue, prepared by PCC’s Revenue and Council Tax team, which includes all businesses paying NNDR rates registered as self-catering accommodation providers and all properties paying the second home premium, which equates to approximately 500 properties in the Saundersfoot area.

However, it was local businesses and residents found flouting the rules on a recent occasion.

“Recently, I have spoken to two businesses that operate on The Strand and three individual residents who live in our village who still think it’s acceptable to put many carrier bags full of their own waste into the village bins for disposal,” remarked Cllr Williams.

“Everyone was fully supportive and some clearly were unaware that this is classed as flytipping which could result in a heavy fine if caught by the enforcement team at Pembrokeshire County Council.

“I did have a little smile when one of the residents argued that he does this on a regular basis and didn’t want his own rubbish left at his property for a week!

“This is the same individual who complained last year when the Council Tax was raised by 7.5%. I had the same conversation with him in March as I did last year and hopefully he can see that individuals like himself are impacting on all the residents paying their council tax.

“I have asked the enforcement team to continue to observe the bins. I will say that it has improved dramatically over last year and with the new regulations set by Welsh Government, regarding holiday properties and trade waste agreements, I’m sure the village will remain litter free,” he added.