A petition launched by members of the Tenby Harbour community objecting to the granting of licences for the 'Party on the Beach' events that take place during July and August, has been criticised by members of the town council.

The petition, which has also been sent to Pembrokeshire County Council's licensing department and has gained over 30 signatures, calls for an end to the summer season events, which the objectors say have resulted in "disgraceful drunken under age behaviour, noise pollution, vandalism and disruption to businesses, harbour users and residents alike."

Discussing the petition, which came before Tenby Town Council on Tuesday, Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter said that she was quite surprised to see some of the names on the list of signatures, as she didn't believe they had anything to do with the harbour.

"These charity events down the harbour benefit the community greatly. Without this form of fundraising from events like this, organisations that are aided by them would suffer," she said.

"I'm surprised by some of the names on this petition, even the ice cream vendors are on there. I'm gob-smacked by that!

"An area like the harbour is bound to have some disruption during the summer in a seaside resort.

"Many visitors arrange their holidays around these events in Tenby as they enjoy them.

"We may as well pull up a drawbridge and say we don't want any outsiders in the town if we backed a petition like this," she added.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown said that she didn't know why certain people had signed the petition either and that surely these events were beneficial to the town's economy.

"It's very sad that a petition like this has come to our table. Tenby is a tourist destination and the town is barely surviving. These type of events down the harbour bring business into the town and most of the money raised goes to local charities too.

"Apart from our beaches, what tourist attractions has the town got to offer during the summer apart from these type of events?

"To say that these events result in disgraceful drunken behaviour is a load of rubbish, too, and an appalling statement to make without any proof, as the security and policing at the events has been top notch," she added.

Councillors met with PC Nigel Lewis during the meeting and he gave a rundown of each of the five events that had taken place at the harbour during the summer, stating that no arrests had been made and that the only incidents that occurred on those evenings, took place in the town.

"It's quite telling from PC Lewis's data that there are less incidents on the evenings of these Sunday summer events than there would be during a typical Friday or Saturday night in Tenby," remarked Clr. Lawrence Blackhall.

Clr. Mrs. Julie Evans congratulated the police on the way they had policed the events over the summer and said that it showed that putting in the manpower required worked.

She also said that she sympathised with harbour residents who were against the events and that maybe a balance needed to be struck where not so many of the parties were held in the harbour area for six Sundays of the summer.

Giving her backing to the petition, harbour resident, Clr. Mrs. Trisha Putwain said it was all very well putting up with the noise now and again if you didn't live in the vicinity, but if you resided there you didn't have a choice and had to experience all the events held over the summer.

The secretary of Tenby Rotary Club, who host one of the summer's harbour events, has said that the organisers would change the wording on the signage for next year's events from 'Party on the Beach' to 'Family Fun on the Beach', but he praised the way the events were run this season.

"I can't see where these people are coming from with this petition in trying to put a halt to these charity community events that raise so much money for worthwhile causes," said Graham Fry.

"They're for five or six evenings of the year; people who live up in the town have to put up with far more noise all year round than the harbour community has to for these events," he added.