Footpath to be re-opened?

Tenby councillors have called for a pavement on the former Royal Gate House side of the Norton to be re-opened in light of a lot of the rubble having been removed from the site in recent weeks.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown proposed at Tuesday night's meeting of the town council that the footpath be opened sooner rather than later, as it could be a long time waiting for the go-ahead to be given to any development on the site.

Now that a substantial part of the demolition material has been removed, TWTRA (Tenby Walled Town Residents' Association) have also asked whether the barrier could be moved to allow the footpath to be opened, improving visibility for vehicles driving out of White Lion Street.

Pembrokeshire County Council, however, have advised that the footpath should remain closed due to the poor condition of the pavement following the fire and the subsequent demolition works.

County council structural engineer, Richard Lawrence, has also stated that the cellars beneath the pavement need to be taken into account before work can be done to re-open the footpath.

"There are numerous cellars beneath the footway which have very little construction depth between the cellar roof and the pavement above," said Mr. Lawrence in a written response to the town council. "We understand that historically these cellars provided access from the basement of the hotel to gardens on the seaward side of the road.

"The pavement surface now contains a number of holes and is cracked extensively, creating numerous trip hazards and areas of suspect structural strength.

In order to re-open the footway, extensive reconstruction will be required. This could be done, but would likely need to be taken up again during the redevelopment of the site," he added.