Suggestions that the bus bay outside Tenby's Somerfield supermarket be turned back into pavement in a bid to help solve traffic problems in Upper Park Road, were overturned at Tuesday night's meeting of the town council.
Concern has been expressed by the council over the years about the fact that the bus bay is frequently used by car drivers using Somerfield.
As a result, buses unable to get into the bay resort to stopping in the road, impeding the free flow of traffic down one of the main routes out of the town.
Following a debate at their last meeting, councillors agreed to ask if the bus bay outside Somerfield could be restored to pavement and one exit road from the multi-storey be closed of to accommodate a larger bus bay outside the bus shelter.
However, at Tuesday's meeting, Clr. Mickey Folland, who first raised the issue, said that he had been having "second thoughts".
While he still agreed with the blocking-off of one exit from the multi-storey to create a larger bus bay, he felt the best option would be to deregulate the bay outside Somerfield to create a loading and unloading bay.
"To convert this back into a pavement is also fraught with problems," he opined. "Human nature being such, people will still park outside the store - as is evident from elsewhere in the town - and the only way to prevent it would be with railings or bollards.
"There are enough of those around the town already!
"Making this a loading and unloading bay will also help the three other businesses in the Somerfield complex who do not have anywhere to load and unload goods at present," Clr. Folland continued.
He felt that Pembrokeshire County Council would be able to finance the multi-storey car park scheme in their next financial year.
He added that people would still be able to park outside Somerfield for loading and unloading, but felt that "divorcing buses from the equation" would help solve the traffic problems.
The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, felt that the bay should only be used for loading and unloading of delivery vehicles and felt that people using Somerfield should use the multi-storey car park.
"The sad truth is that you are never going to get people to do that," claimed Clr. Folland. "People don't want to part with their pounds, shillings and pence unnecessarily, even if it is only 20p.
"Once the bus bay is deregulated and made into a loading and unloading bay, people will have up to an hour," claimed Clr. Stuart Fecci. "If we are to allow parking, it should be metered parking for just a few minutes."
Clr. Trevor Hallett felt that "once people can park there, they will want more and more time.
"Cars should be stopped," he stressed.
Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas agreed, adding that she had gone along with the previous suggestion for blocking in the pavement as many vehicles currently using the bay illegally reversed out into Upper Park Road.
"This is a highly dangerous manoeuvre, as well as being illegal," she pointed out. 'Parking in this area should be firmly discouraged."
Voting was tied at five-all, with the council opting to amend their resolution to create a loading and unloading bay outside Somerfield on the casting vote of the Mayor.
The section of the resolution relating to the creation of a longer bus bay outside the bus shelter further up the road still stands.