The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park's development control committee were told on Wednesday that their planning officers envisaged holding a site visit with the RNLI - and possibly a public meeting - at the end of July, which meant that they would not be in a position to make a full report on the controversial application until the committee's September meeting.
The RNLI are seeking permission to build the new slipway and boathouse on Castle Hill to house one of the rescue charity's new generation of bigger, faster FSB2 seagoing lifeboats, scheduled to replace Tenby's existing Tyne class vessel, the RFA Sir Galahad.
In a preliminary report on the application, Mrs. Cathy Milner, development control officer, informed the committee that this was "by any standard a major proposal for a new development in the National Park" and would "affect the way that Tenby looks for well into the rest of the century."
Mrs. Milner explained that park officers had been in discussion with the RNLI for three years prior to the submission of the application, but it was "not accurate" to call the location "an agreed choice."
She felt that the issue of the principle of the need for such a development needed to be addressed, and believed that the RNLI would "have to provide compelling evidence of the need for a lifeboat in the area, of the need for that boat to be based in Tenby and for it to be of a type which requires a slipway station to allow it to be launched."
After this stage, locations for the boathouse could be looked at along with the facilities required, before consideration could be given to its design and location.
While the RNLI has submitted an environmental impact assessment along with their application, Mr. John Griffiths, of the Park's planning department, felt that there had been "a number of omissions," which had been taken up with the RNLI.
He also pointed out that not all the consultees had replied at this stage.
"The main issue has to be the visual impact and the scale of the building," Mr. Griffiths opined.
He recommended that the matter be deferred until the July meeting when a more detailed appraisal of the proposal, together with the results of the consultation, could be submitted.
He said that the likely recommendation at that meeting would be for a site inspection, possibly preceded by a public meeting in the De Valence Pavilion, with a detailed assessment and recommendation likely by the Park's September meeting.