A programme of works to enhance railings and street furniture across Tenby needs to be put in place over the coming months, the Mayor of the town has stated.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, the Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall, told his colleagues that he would like to see a year-long project developed that would see every railing in the resort refurbished or painted.

“A significant section along the Norton and the front of the Croft was replaced and proved to be hugely expensive, so the cost would be phenomenal if we had to replace every section of railings.

“So I’d like to open discussions with the ‘regeneration committee’ and Pembrokeshire County Council to develop a project that sees every railing in the town refurbished or painted, and the same goes for every bench, bollard and dustbin,” continued Clr. Blackhall, who said that hopefully it would be a joint project with the county council, and that the town council could look at their reserves over the year to fund the programme of works.

“I’d actively encourage others to enhance their own properties too and organisations and businesses might want to adopt areas; that way we could develop an audit so we know who is responsible for each area,” he explained.

Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas said that there were many ‘lovely’ benches in the town that were not well used that it would be nice to see placed in areas that were more frequented.

The Mayor agreed, and said that memorial benches were maintained as much as they could be, but in some cases they couldn’t be saved.

“We’ve lost three benches on Castle Hill in the last six weeks, two were rotten and one was used for firewood by some people!” the town clerk told councillors.

Clr. Blackhall also agreed that a programme of works that was promised some time ago where the trees alongside the town walls were to be heavily pruned needed to be put in place too.

“This needs to be a focused project, starting at one end of the town and going all the way through. Once we discuss the matter with the county council, hopefully we can come back with a plan to upgrade the whole of Tenby’s railings and benches,” he added.