Calls were made this week for full consultation on any changes to Tenby's traffic and parking arrangements.

As part of their strategic review of traffic and parking management in Pembrokeshire's main towns, the county council have come up with a series of proposals for Tenby.

In a report to yesterday's (Thursday's) policy and resources committee of the county council, it was revealed that questionnaires had been sent to various local bodies in Tenby earlier in the year to establish their views on key traffic issues and elicit any suggestions for the way forward.

The study had identified the main difficulties as including: congestion on roads leading to and from the town and within the town centre; access difficulties for the elderly and disabled, resulting from the town's topography which also contributes to pedestrian/vehicle conflict; a perception that the multi-storey is remote from the rest of the town centre and its facilities; and damage to historic buildings, structures and underground chambers.

Giving members forewarning about the report at Tuesday night's meeting of Tenby Town Council, Clr. Mickey Folland revealed that as a result of the review, county officers had come up with a number of potential traffic related improvements that could take place in and around the town centre which "would serve to alleviate some of the difficulties."

These included: a review of waiting restrictions on streets, including facilities for disabled parking; the potential for the introduction of on-street voucher parking, particularly within the tourist areas; the further extension of residents' parking within the town; and improvements to public bus facilities, coach setting down points and park and ride provision.

Other proposals included: the introduction of one-way flow within White Lion Street, The Norton and St. John's Hill to create a gyratory system to lead incoming traffic away from the walled town and direct it instead to the multi-storey car park; one-way flow in some residential streets to create additional car parking space; control of parking within the harbour area; and the potential of additional traffic restraint within the walled town, including some periods during the day when there would be a presumption against traffic movement within the walls.

Other suggestions in the longer term were the creation of a vehicular link between The Salterns and South Beach car parks, environmental enhancements within the walled town and the creation of a pedestrian priority link between the multi-storey and St. Catherine's archway with an enhanced streetscape scene and the relocation of the information centre to this area.

Clr. Folland explained that the suggestion now was for these proposals to go out for wider consultation, although there was a possibility that some of the ideas could be brought into effect in time for the next summer season.

However, Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas expressed some anxiety about the consultation period.

"When will we be getting these details from the county council?" she asked.

"If they are planning to get some of this up and running by next year, it seems a little rushed.

"Will we be having proper consultation on this or will it be something that is foisted upon us like so many other county council ideas?"

Clr. Folland conceded that it would be unlikely that there would be full agreement on the proposals within the town, but stressed that there would be full consultation.

If the proposal was passed by full council in December, then consultation would include exhibitions in the town to highlight the conclusions of the review as well as canvassing the views of various organisations.

"I am terrified of them coming up with something like the permit scheme," admitted Clr. Mrs. Thomas. "It's taken the town nearly 15 years to recover from that and I don't want anything like it foisted upon us again.

"All these proposals need very careful consideration."

"All the town's organisations, in fact the whole town, will be involved in consultations," stressed Clr. Folland.