Tenby Town Council are to hold a special meeting after the Christmas break to discuss the implications of Pembrokeshire County Council's decision to extend the resort's walled town traffic ban.

Despite outcry from some groups of businesses and residents, Tenby's walled town was closed off to all but emergency vehicles from 12 noon to 4 pm daily throughout August this year.

Last Monday, the county council's cabinet accepted a proposal by director of transportation, Mr. Huw Roberts, that the pedestrianisation be extended to take in all of July, with the traffic ban starting earlier in the day, at 11 am, and ending later at 5 pm.

Clr. Mickey Folland outlined the decision to members of the town council on Tuesday night, explaining he had since met with officers from the transport department.

He had suggested an idea, also supported by fellow county councillor Michael Williams, for a colour coded permit scheme to run alongside the pedestrianisation.

He said the idea was to divide the walled town up with different coloured permits giving access to different areas.

"For example, Crackwell Street could be yellow, giving access to the harbour; Belmont Arch could be blue and a special red one for the town centre for carers, doctors, meals on wheels and the like," he explained. "The previous permit scheme did not work because there were so many issued, but this might and the county council are going to have a look at it," Clr. Folland continued.

"While there are a fair percentage opposed to the extension, many thought the principle was right, just not in this form.

"We need to start the consultation process now, so that by July we will be ready to implement a scheme that is favourable to more people than in the past.

"I think we all accept that the tidal problems need to be addressed and a coloured permit scheme may be a winner."

Clr. Mrs. Maureen Ward felt that Clr. Folland's suggestion should be put on the agenda as there was a lot to be discussed following the cabinet's decision.

Deputy Mayor, Clr. Andrew Rees, wondered if the cabinet's decision was 'set in stone' or if it had to be ratified by full council.

Clr. Folland explained that cabinet decisions only had to be ratified by full council if they were related to a change of policy. As this was not the case, the decision would stand.

Clr. Trevor Hallett felt the county council were "rubbing salt in by extending a scheme they foisted upon us in the first place."

The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, felt that the decision raised a number of issues that needed to be discussed and decided that a special meeting after Christmas would be the appropriate forum.

Before members were several letters on the pedestrianisation scheme, including one from Upton Farm concerned about the delivery of perishable goods within the prohibition times and another from Caldey Island which explained how difficult the August experiment was when it came to tidal constraints for supplying the island and how much more difficult it would be under an extended restriction.

Also on the table was a report of the Tenby Sounding Group meeting held between the county council and various local organisations in November.

Commenting on the Sounding meeting, Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas admitted that she was surprised that only one had been held before the county council had taken the decision to extend the scheme.

"I thought it was going to be the start of more meetings, but that seemed to be it and the county council made their decision," she said. "I'm so disenchanted. I hope Clr. Folland will be able to get them to listen."

Clr. Rees felt that whoever had written the minutes of the sounding group had "selective memory."

"It's not fiction, but it's by no means exhaustive over what was said," he commented.

"I asked several times when the next meeting would be, but got no reply. It's obvious now that this was because that was it.

"I feel very sorry for the town and I feel very sorry for Clr. Folland who will be chairman of the county council when this scheme comes into force.

"There seems to be intransigence on the part of the transportation department and the cabinet over this.

"I would have thought that Tenby would have been listened to much more than just brushed aside."

Clr. Folland felt that the only way the scheme could be 'got right' was through local member input.

He felt there was a lot of room for improvement in the scheme which would not be realised unless the county council listened to the local members.

"We need to meet on a regular basis to get this right, not for 85 per cent, but for 97 or 98 per cent. You will never get 100 per cent because there will always be people opposed to any change, but we can get as close as we can to total agreement.

"However, we need to start consulting now, otherwise we will miss the boat again."