The owner of the Royal Gate House Hotel has made an inquiry this week as to whether town councillors who also sit on a nearby trust group should be commenting on future plans for the site of the former hotel destroyed in an Easter Bank Holiday fire. At Tuesday's meeting of Tenby Town Council, the town clerk, Mr. Andrew Davies, informed members that he had received correspondence from Mr. Graham Fry querying whether councillors who are also members of the De Valence Trust Ltd. should be allowed to make formal remarks on plans for the former hotel site, due to the close proximity of the two businesses. Mr. Fry felt any councillor who was also a member of the trust should take no further part in discussions as the two businesses could be seen as "competitive facilities." However, Mr. Davies said that he had contacted the monitoring officer over the matter and had been advised that there would need to be specific proposals regarding the site of the former hotel before anything could be classed as a "prejudicial interest." "Until there are concrete plans put forward for the site, then there is nothing at the moment for the De Valence to be in competition with, the monitoring officer has informed me," explained Mr. Davies. Councillors agreed at the meeting to approve a planning application submitted to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority by Mr. Fry to demolish the remainder of the Royal Gate House Hotel building (the ballroom area which had now been delisted). They had no objections to the proposals, providing that all rubble is removed from the site and that hoardings around the site are improved. They also wanted the gable end to 5 The Norton to be suitably screened. Clr. Mike Thorne expressed his disappointment that there had been no progress on improving the hoardings surrounding the site already. "We've heard previously that the developers were to meet with National Parks over the matter. When is this going to happen, though, as we are going to end up going through the summer season without a decision on it," he remarked. Clr. Thorne was also concerned about an application submitted to Pembrokeshire County Council by Mr. Fry with a request for temporary permission to store stone from the Royal Gate House Hotel on his land at Penhoyle Farm in Penally, for it to be crushed and then reused. "I know that a number of people in Penally have raised objections to this proposal as there would be a noise issue and also obstruction caused to the footpaths and cycleways," he said. "I'm somewhat concerned about what volume of traffic this would cause going to and from the Gate House site and travelling through the town to Penally, and it's somewhat unfortunate that rubble from our town is being dumped on a neighbour. Shouldn't it be moved to a licensed site?" enquired Clr. Thorne. Councillors agreed that a letter should be sent to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority regarding the hoardings issue.
