Tenby Town Council have given their backing to plans to introduce residents only parking into designated areas of the walled town.

The initial suggestion has come from the Walled Town Residents Association who feel that it could control the amount of traffic entering the walled town by reducing the amount of perceived parking available.

They also propose that the only exception be Tudor Square, where they suggest there could be limited waiting based on a voucher or other payment system.

In a letter to the town council on Tuesday, Mr. Barrie Davies, Pembrokeshire County Council's head of infrastructure management, said that the TWRA also suggest that any on-street parking should be made available to any resident within the walled town who buys a permit. This would be irrespective of whether the address of the resident was different from the street where the parking was available.

Mr. Davies said that the resident parking schemes in the town at present were based upon up to half the available on-street parking being designated for permit holders only.

The remainder is available for residents who do not wish to purchase a permit or for any other motorist. These schemes had, to date, restricted the sale of permits only to residents of the streets where the spaces are designated.

The WTRA also suggests that parking in the harbour area should form part of the parking pool for walled town residents, but Mr. Davies pointed out that this parking was for permit holders from properties within the defined harbour area.

He suggested that eligibility for parking either be open to any resident from any street or available only to residents from the same street as the spaces.

Likewise, Mr. Davies also suggested that the extent of parking spaces could either be all available spaces with no provision for non permit holding residents and casual visitors, or half the available parking.

Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas, who represents the town council on the WTRA, said that the association wanted the option for permit holders to be able to park anywhere within the walled town where there was a designated permit space.

All available parking should be designated for permit holders only, leaving none for the casual visitor, with the exception of Tudor Square, where there would be short-term parking.

The WTRA also felt that there should be provision made in the multi-storey car park for permit holders unable to find on-street parking within the walled town.

"This would be a nice little earner for the county council as there could be 200 applicants for about 50 spaces," commented Clr. Mrs. Thomas.

The TWRA also stressed that designated parking provision in the harbour and Castle Square should be for the general use of all walled town parking permit holders.

Clr. Mickey Folland agreed, saying that there were 37 designated spaces in the harbour area and those not earmarked for disabled or short-term parking, should be allocated for all residents.

"The main word is resident," agreed Clr. Miss Lis James. "Ninety per cent of the people who would buy tickets from those allowed to in the harbour area only live there for a couple of weeks a year," she claimed. "This is unfair to other walled town residents.

"We cannot go against this idea and it comes down to the WTRA and the county council coming to some agreement as to how it's going to work," she continued.

"The WTRA response is well thought out and the main bugbear is the harbour area.

"Why should full-time residents give up their parking for people who only live here for a couple of weeks of the year," she added.

Clr. Folland suggested that a fair way of allocating permits in the harbour area could be one per building, irrespective of whether they had been converted into flats or not, while Clr. Trevor Hallett felt that people should also be made to use their garages.

While agreeing with the parking proposals, councillors were less happy about the proposals for 'voucher' parking in Tudor Square.

QUEENS PARADE

Councillors also gave their backing to a similar residents only parking scheme for the town's Queen's Parade.

Mr. Davies said that the suggestion was for 10 spaces on the west (golf club) side of the road which would be available to residents of Queens Parade who purchased an annual permit.

Clr. Hallett felt that such schemes could cause problems when more residents bought permits than there were spaces available, leading to animosity when people were unable to get a space.

Clr. Folland said that he was unaware of this being a problem anywhere else in the county where similar schemes operated.

However, he did wonder if there was more room available for more residents' parking spaces.

"Most of the houses along one side have drives, it only looks to be about 12 who need spaces, it would only need a couple more," agreed the Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown.

Clr. Stuart Fecci pointed out that such schemes were only put forward following a request from residents and all knew that a permit did not guarantee them a space.

"They all enter into the agreement knowing the risks," he said.

Clr. Folland also noted that spaces were always allowed for non-permit holders and other motorists.

He felt that if these were removed, it would reduce the volume of traffic 'cruising' around looking for spaces.