Those continually flytipping in the seaside village of Saundersfoot, with black bags being found dumped in lanes, have been warned once again to clean up their act, or face prosecution.

Cllr Chris Williams who represents the south ward said that this season alone, he was now up to 35 tourists/holiday homeowners that he had caught trying to dispose of their rubbish into the village bins.

“All the individuals are abusing the current system, and that simply isn’t good enough,” he stated.

“All the visitors are keen to go into detail that the properties that they are staying in don’t have sufficient storage for their waste. Others have stated that in the property handbook they are told to take the rubbish down to the local bins.

“Other properties have asked the guests to take the rubbish home with them, while some have said that they don’t recycle and, to make it easier, they are told to put everything into the black bags for the cleaners to pick up.”

Cllr Williams said that he is never surprised with the excuses he receives from the visitors, but the common factor from all of them is that they are ‘extremely disappointed’ in the lack of recycling facilities at the properties.

“I have heard numerous times that other destinations across the UK do it far better and we are behind the times,” he continued.

“All the properties have been reported to the enforcement team to chase, but this is a small minority of what’s happening across our coastal destinations in Pembrokeshire.

“I have now spoken to all the local major holiday firms and there is a common goal here to improve communication. I must, however, acknowledge that some local firms have tight procedures in place.

“There are many Air B&B owners who need to tighten up the information that they send to the guests such as asking them to take the rubbish home or go to the local bins. This is unacceptable. Recently black bags are appearing around the village, dumped in lanes.

“These guests are taking the rubbish away for fear of a bad review from the owner.

“It appears that the guests staying at Air B&B properties are under a lot of pressure to take the rubbish away, we need to look at property owners to make sure that they provide waste management and not forcing guests to dump bags in fear of bad reviews which is currently happening.”

Cllr Williams said that the whole system needs a ‘strict overhaul’ with a strong emphasis on recycling, and that the key to the issue is to get all holiday units signed up to a trade waste provider, with many professional individuals who operate such a service on change-over days.

“PCC are working on this and, hopefully, by the end of September we will all sit down and look at how we can use Saundersfoot as a trial to set standards before its rolled out across the county,” he remarked.

“The holiday homeowners need to look at themselves, as a minority is spoiling it for the majority. We need to communicate and to have clear targets. Every property should be licensed and every property should have a trade waste agreement.

“All properties should be instructed to install recycling. My view is that you shouldn’t impact on the local community. “Lastly there has been a remarkable improvement from previous years but there is still a long way to go.

“Unfortunately, it seems that visitors have switched now to driving to Coppet Hall to place their rubbish into the steel drums. Numerous vehicles and their details have been passed on to the PCC enforcement team to chase.

“We, as a community, strive to keep our village as clean as possible. Many voluntarily litter pick regularly. It’s just a small minority as always who cut corners and this impacts on the local community.

“Fly-tipping is a serious offence and can lead to an unlimited fine and possible prosecution.”

Cllr Williams said that he hoped that Pembrokeshire County Council’s newly appointed Enviro Crime Enforcement officers - Waste Investigations Support and Enforcement (WISE) would help tackle such fly-tipping across the county.