One of Narberth's leading community figures has launched an innovative plan for the future of one of the town's now redundant buildings.
County Councillor Wynne Evans is to lobby Pembrokeshire County Council and appeal to the authority not to sell off the former primary school in Moorfield Road.
Instead, he is to plead with senior cabinet members to consider alternative options for the site and also other ways of generating much-needed funds to off-set the costs of building the new state-of-the-art school which recently opened in the town's Jesse Road.
A questionnaire co-ordinated by Narberth Future Forum showed that the majority of people surveyed wanted the building to be retained as a community facility, with a library being suggested as one of its main uses.
Whilst congratulating the forum for 'leading the way in a positive manner', Clr. Evans says he has listened to the views of the people of Narberth and now hopes to make some new proposals for the county council to consider.
"I await some criticism from some quarters, but sincerely hope I get the backing from the people who really matter, the people of Narberth," he said.
The main feature of Clr. Evans's idea surrounds a much-needed new library.
"Narberth is in desperate need of a new library and all the facilities that go with a modern library, not just books, but internet access and learning aids etc," Clr. Evans told us.
"I propose the existing library in St. James Street be sold and re-located to the old school building."
It is apparent, Clr. Evans says, that the council needs to raise revenue and, with this is mind, he is suggesting that a pay and display scheme be introduced at the currently-free Town Moor car park.
In what is likely to be a controversially-met idea, Clr. Evans is also calling for extra parking spaces to be created on the school playground, plus on land made available by the demolition of the newer buildings at the school.
"What many people will not like is a fast track introduction of pay and display," said Clr. Evans.
He continued: "With the playground and newly-created spaces, it would give the local authority an extra 77 spaces, which would certainly be filled most days, giving a constant stream of income. It may take some years to recover the funding which would have been achieved from the quick sale of the school, but in the long-term would be more cost effective and guaranteed income.
"As far as the costs of demolishing part of the building, just leaving the remaining old structure, I would envisage working closely with the county's planning department on what is called a 106 Agreement.
"This, in layman's terms, is when a developer in the Narberth area wants to build houses, they have to make a contribution of a set amount per dwelling to the county council. This has to be spent in the community on either education or library facilities and, with large-scale building being identified already under the Joint Unitary Development Plan and the new Local Development Plan, large amounts of money are truly feasible."
Clr. Evans has been meeting with local groups this week to discuss his proposals before he formally takes them to County Hall. A final decision on the future of the old school is due in early January.