A plea for survey work to be carried out to help protect Tenby’s historic town walls appears to have been heard.

Members of Tenby Town Council have been fighting an ongoing battle to have an up-to-date structural survey carried out on the condition of the resort’s ancient walls that surround the town.

They have made several requests in recent times to Pembrokeshire County Council and Cadw for a check to be made on the condition of the walls in certain areas.

“The walls are part of our heritage, and we need to do our level best to shake-up the authorities responsible, otherwise they will become a ruin!” said Clr. Trevor Hallett recently.

Correspondence from Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority building conservation officer, Rob Scourfield, came before members of the town council at their meeting on Tuesday night, informing them that he had been thinking about the best way forward on the matter, as resources were not in place for a full structural survey.

“What I would be happy to offer is an assessment of the immediate problems and the preparation of a specification, which could be used for seeking tenders for the work,” explained Mr. Scourfield.

“This would also form the basis of a grant application to Cadw, which would effectively double-up as the granting of scheduled ancient monument consent. That leaves the issue of finding match funding, which is really a matter of discussion between the town council and the county council.

“As the walls were extensively repaired some 30 to 35 years ago, I suspect most of the problems are straightforward - weed growth, some attention to rainwater disposal, minor repairs - and not requiring the services of a surveyor,” continued Mr. Scourfield, explaining that he had worked on a similar scheme with Cadw at Carew Castle.

“If we can keep the wolf from the door until a full survey is done, then this could be the best way ahead,” he added, suggesting the next step be engaging in a walkover around the town walls with councillors.

The Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall, said that the response from Mr. Scourfield was ‘really encouraging’.

“This is an issue we’ve pushed for some time, so we thank Mr. Scourfield for getting involved, and hopefully he can provide us with some updates down the line,” he said.

Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas said that she hoped that the inside of the town walls could be looked at, too, as the people living inside needed some help to preserve the walls.