Pembrokeshire County Council have been labelled 'shameful' for not taking more action to ensure that the site of Tenby's former Royal Gatehouse Hotel is cleared by next summer.
At last week's meeting of the full council at County Hall, Clr. Michael Williams asked what further action was being taken to guarantee that the site of the former hotel, destroyed in an Easter Bank Holiday fire, would be clear before the next busy period.
Clr. Williams also questioned whether the authority would be undertaking investigations into the possible compulsory purchase of the site.
Deputy leader, Clr. John Allen-Mirehouse, responded by stating that the council had taken immediate action following the fire in March to make the building safe and had worked closely with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority on the matter.
With regard to further clearance of the site, Clr. Allen-Mirehouse stated that the National Park Authority were better placed to effect this by serving a Section 215 notice on the owner and occupier, as the county council's powers were limited to the 'Building Act'.
He also said that purchase of the site in theory was an option, but that such action would trigger a public inquiry and that perhaps it would be more appropriate for the National Park to seek a CPO (compulsory purchase order).
In response, Clr. Williams said that he knew that his colleague shared his concerns over the site, but that Pembrokeshire County Council needed to take more of a joint approach with the National Park Authority on the matter.
Clr. Williams also wanted assurances that there were no contaminated materials on the site blowing onto the surrounding environment.
"I presume you are referring to asbestos," remarked Clr. Allen-Mirehouse. "Well, there is no evidence of it so far, but at present the land does look like a bomb site and we could be potentially looking at a serious situation if contaminated materials are discovered."
Following the meeting, Clr. Williams slammed the council for not taking enough responsibility to ensure that the site would be cleared in the near future and that it had not been clarified whether there was a risk of contaminated materials being found.
"The county council seem to expect the National Park to act on the Gatehouse, an authority which has already put itself at considerable risk in serving a notice to clear the site, and an authority whose finances are tiny when compared with the county council," remarked Clr. Williams.
"What does concern me further is that no check appears to have been carried out to see if there is any contaminated material on the site. This has been blowing around for months and nobody seems interested."
As far as compulsory purchase was concerned, Clr. Williams felt that it was wrong for the county council to seem content to sit on their hands and do nothing, citing the possibility of a public inquiry.
"Interestingly, the reasons given for not doing so were the likelihood of a public inquiry. Having checked, this might not necessarily be the case. I think it was something of a smokescreen to hide inactivity. They did, however, say that they would 'maintain a watching brief'," stated Clr. Williams.
"It is shameful that an organisation such as the county council is expecting the National Park to take the lead in carrying out enforcement. They trumpet the lowest council tax in Wales, but on the other hand do so very little, apart from seemingly spend huge amounts on self-promotion," he added.