Proposals to re-open an historic island in Tenby have been described as "hugely exciting" by local councillors.

Members of Tenby Town Council met with Mr. Peter Prosser, project manager behind an ambitious project to transform St. Catherine's Island and Fortress, situated just off Castle Beach, into a tourist attraction, ahead of their meeting on Tuesday night.

The developers, who are leasing the island, have already held consultations with various parties such as - the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, Pembrokeshire County Council, CADW, Marine Conservation Area and Historic Monument, to discuss ideas prior to a formal application for the plans.

"Contrary to rumour, we're not building a nightclub!" joked Mr. Prosser, when telling councillors of the proposals which would see the attraction explore the history of the island and give visitors an insight into its past, with various facets planned for the historic landmark, including educational tours and an interactive military history room.

"The history of the island is hugely important, and we recognise that. We also realise that it's a marine conservation area, and that side of it, along with the wildlife aspect, is also hugely important.

"The experts have discovered a number of rare plants and a wealth of interesting little treasures in the caves, which has been pretty exciting for us too," continued Mr. Prosser, who said that they were also hoping to create a chapel within the fort.

The biggest stumbling block to overcome, he explained, was access to the island and getting people on and off the attraction. One of the avenues explored has been the construction of a bridge from the bandstand on Castle Hill to the closest point of the island, with the bridge described as "a simple and elegant design" that would fit in best with the surrounding environment, without upstaging any part of the remains of the castle, the monument, surrounding buildings or the fortress and island itself.

Mr. Prosser said that they had explored various alternative ways of providing access to the island for the public, including - a pontoon arrangement, a causeway across the beach, boats, tractor unit through the sea, under sea tunnel, and cable car unit.

"Many of these suggestions it seems would have a bigger visual impact, some would cause disruption to a highly populated beach, while others are simply unfeasible.

"Out of all the options, the bridge would be the most elegant solution and out of seven to eight types of bridges we have looked at, the design we've considered is the one with the lowest impact," explained Mr. Prosser.

"There is currently no opportunity to have ambulant disabled or fully disabled visitors to the island and, due to the nature of the access, currently the island is unable to accommodate most elderly visitors and families with small children or buggies, so it is our hope that the bridge will allow us to be able to accommodate everyone as a visitor to the island," he continued, stating that out of all the proposals mentioned, nothing was set in stone and all possibilities were still up for discussion.

Clr. Lawrence Blackhall said that he was sure that his fellow councillors would agree, that many have sat and looked at the island over the years and thought of all the wonderful things you could do with it, so to get to a point where there were proposals to re-open it and make it accessible for visitors, was "hugely exciting," he remarked.

"It's encouraging to see the proposals that you have come forward with, and I suppose it's right to focus on the bridge as being a point of concern. At the moment, I'm not convinced that it would be the right thing, as there is something hugely attractive about St. Catherine's being cut off by the tide; it is an island after all, and there is something unique about that," said Clr. Blackhall.

Clr. William Rossiter agreed that the proposal was an excellent one which he would be in favour of, but he didn't want to see any disruption caused to wildlife and gulls that nested around the island.

"It's a marvellous idea and I hope you get it off the ground as soon as possible," commented Clr. Mrs. Kerri Durham, with Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter adding to those sentiments.

"What Tenby needs is another major attraction and it's a really exciting idea," she said.

Mr. Prosser said that he was also on the hunt for any old photographs or further historical documentation of the history of the island and fort and made a request for anyone with any pictures to email [email protected]">[email protected]

The Mayor, Clr. Trevor Hallett, wished Mr. Prosser the best of luck with the project and asked for regular updates on its progress to be brought to the town council.