Tenby's new £3 million lifeboat station has finally been given the green light by National Park planners this week
The RNLI proposals to build a new lifeboat station on the town's Castle Hill to house one of its new generation of FSB2 sea-going lifeboats have been in the melting pot since last March.
The proposals have not been without controversy, but at last month's meeting of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority's development control committee, planning officer, Mr. John Griffiths, told members that the Park had accepted the principle of the application, its location, and scale of the building for the inclusion of all the facilities requested by the RNLI
There had been question marks about the design, given its prominent location within the resort, but the RNLI and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority had finally agreed on a design for the building and officers felt close to being able to okay the project.
However, Mr. Griffiths had not been in a position make a recommendation for approval at the Park's October meeting, feeling that the new designs should be circulated to various organisations in the town for their observations first
Those observations came before the development control committee's November meeting on Wednesday.
Tenby Town Council, Tenby Sailing Club and Tenby Civic Society all supported the design, while Tenby 2020, although recognising the need for the station, were 'disappointed' with the scope of the building.
The continued concerns of the Georgian Society were also noted.
"Whichever way you look at it, this is still a big building and will have a considerable impact," commented Mr. Griffiths.
"However, as I said previously, officers feel this design is the best we can get and our recommendation is for approval."
Members unanimously supported the recommendation.
Committee chairman, Mrs. Jane Heard, thanked Mr. Griffiths and fellow officers for their hard work on the application.
"It shows we were right to take our time on this application to get it right," she commented.