Local councillors say they feel short-changed after a response from Pembrokeshire County Council on car parking revenue in Tenby failed to answer their request.

At a recent meeting, members of Tenby Town Council asked for a letter to be written to the authority requesting a breakdown on revenue at county council owned car parks in the resort, in particular the multi-storey.

Correspondence from the authority's acting head of paid service, Mr. Ian Westley, came before councillors at their meeting on Tuesday night, stating that from a finance perspective, the county council needed to comply with two codes of practice.

"Service Reporting Code of Practice for Local Authorities (SeRCOP) sets out the service expenditure analysis of local authority expenditure, with the aim to promote consistency between local authorities in terms of the format and comparability of financial performance reporting," wrote Mr. Westley.

"Parking services includes all costs associated with the provision of the parking facilities, including facilities for lorries and those provided under statutes other than the highways act. It should also include all expenditure and income from the operation of parking regimes.

"Therefore, it is not practicable to provide the information you have requested, as the management accounts are not available in this format," he added.

In responding to the letter, Clr. Lawrence Blackhall said it was hard to believe that the authority were not able to provide the town council with some basic information about money coming out of parking machines.

"We got a response, but not an answer! If necessary, I'm happy to put forward a 'freedom of information' request to the county council. Tenby's multi-storey is the most lucrative car park in the county, so I think it's reasonable for us to expect that this information can be put into the public domain," he told his colleagues.

Clr Mrs. Caroline Thomas said that she had received an email from a local resident this week that had also been sent to Mr. Westley on car parking increases in the town.

"It pointed out that the current rate in Tenby has gone up 44 per cent over the previous year, with the multi-storey now £540 per annum, compared to £328 per annum in Haverfordwest. Tenby seems to be being milked, and questions need to be asked!" she said.

Clr. Mike Evans suggested that the town council write a carefully worded response to the authority, stating that they hadn't done themselves justice with their answer.

"They've let themselves down, they're better than that," he said, with Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane adding, "We deserve better than that!"