Sir,

I was amazed to hear that the developers' planning application to change the cinema part of the Gatehouse scheme to 'food, drink and retail use' has been refused by the National Park authority committee and Tenby Town Council, despite park officers recommending the application for approval.

How infuriating that, once again, the entire development is right back to square one because of their insistence that the cinema remains as a cinema. Don't these people realise that, in this day and age, a small, one-screened, one-film-per-week cinema is totally unviable when compared to multiplexes like the one in Carmarthen which offers tens of different films several times per day?

No cinema company in their right mind would agree to lease a cinema like the Playhouse, knowing that they could only show one film per week. Have the town councillors forgotten that the Playhouse failed spectacularly for this very reason and was forced to close after attracting the grand total of just 12 people to the latest Harry Potter film?

Why do they insist that the Playhouse must be re-opened as part of the Gatehouse development - after all, it has failed once, so it would surely fail again. The people of Tenby have made their minds up - the Observer's website poll reveals that a staggering 45 per cent of people would never use a new cinema, and a further 33 per cent would only use it less than twice a year. I wonder how many town councillors were regulars at the Playhouse?

The fact remains that, without any funding in place from a cinema operator, the entire development is on hold - it had been hoped that, by allowing the cinema space in the new development to be used for another purpose instead (such a retail, food and drink), a company would have been found who would be willing to lease the site and provide the funding so desperately needed in order to start work. But no - the council have put the final nail in Tenby's coffin. A golden opportunity missed. Would the last one out please turn off the lights?

Anthony Coles,

Sandy Hill Road,