A recent visitor to Tenby has written to the town council to express ‘disappointment’ at the number of A-boards and signage that he and his family encountered blocking the pavements of the resort.

“I would firstly like to congratulate the town council and local authority for the numerous dropped kerbs within the town; this made my task of pushing a very small person in a pushchair a delight,” wrote Paul Davidson, of Cardiff, in a letter that came before councillors at their meeting on Tuesday night.

“However, I was extremely disappointed at the number of traders who obstruct the narrow pavements with A-boards and other marketing paraphernalia.

“This is potentially dangerous practice during the holiday period when traffic is not stopped within the town walls as it is later in the season,” he added.

Responding to the letter, Clr. Will Rossiter asked if the town council had heard from Pembrokeshire County Council’s street care manager Marc Owen lately.

“We hear every year how the authority are meant to be sorting this problem out, yet we find again that all the boards and signage are covering the pavements,” he remarked.

“The Five Arches area is particularly treacherous and the bottlenecks in High Street. Pedestrians are having to walk onto the street around cars to avoid the signs.

“This problem should be sorted out, but it’s not happening. It will end up in a compensation case in the town,” added Clr. Rossiter.

His colleague Clr. Trevor Hallett agreed that it was a sad state of affairs and that it was only a matter of time before a business owner was prosecuted over it.

“Common sense should come into it, where there is not enough room to put a board out, don’t!” he commented.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown felt that businesses and traders putting signs and flowers out helped make the town look “interesting and vibrant”, but she didn’t agree with all A-boards.

“To say we want more colour is not a good enough reason, especially for people who can’t see,” argued Clr. Rossiter.

“We should ask all shopkeepers to put their signs against their walls, not on the pavements; that would solve most of the problems,” he added.

Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas suggested that the complaint could be passed onto Pembrokeshire’s disabled access officer.