Plans to charge for the park and ride scheme which is run in Tenby as part of the town's summer pedestrianisation scheme, were described as "incredibly disappointing" this week.

In a letter which came before Tenby Town Council on Tuesday night, Pembrokeshire County Council's traffic engineer, Ben Blake, said that due to the authority's need to make substantial cost savings, certain elements of the pedestrianisation scheme had had to be reviewed.

Mr. Blake explained that users of the service would be charged a small fee, and whilst there was no firm decision in respect of a fee structure at present, a flat rate 50p fare had been suggested, with the option of a family ticket.

"One of the main costs associated with the scheme has been the free park and ride service from the North Beach car park which has previously been fully subsidised by the authority, but is now no longer feasible," said Mr. Blake.

"The authority recognises the importance of this facility and rather than lose the service completely, it is proposed that it is retained, albeit on a commercial basis," he continued, explaining that the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority had also advised that their funding for the Salterns park and ride had been withdrawn and therefore it was likely that if that service was to remain, it would also have to be on a commercial basis.

Speaking on the matter, Clr. Lawrence Blackhall said that the news was "incredibly disappointing."

"People are expected to pay to use the car park and now expected to pay to use the park and ride service. It's another added expense.

"It will be really interesting to see the effect on numbers. I really hope that won't be the case, but I suspect it will be," continued Clr. Blackhall, who also hit out at a proposed increase in car parking charges in the town by the county council.

"We're trying to attract coach parties to the town and I see that coach parking charges are also being increased," he added.

The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, said that maybe every other car park facility in Pembrokeshire should be brought in line with Tenby, then there would be no need to charge for the park and ride service.

Her deputy, Clr. Paul Rapi, agreed, and said that car parking charges across the county should be the same right across the board.

"We should write to the county council and ask for a fairer rates system, either put the rest up, or bring ours down in Tenby," he remarked.

Clr. Trevor Hallett said that the whole idea of the park and ride scheme was to try and provide a service for cars to park outside the town during the pedestrianisation period.

"Will people now try and start parking in the town once the prices have been put up? People will not use the service if so; the county council need to be very careful with this," he said.

Councillors asked for a letter to be written to the authority seeking clarification on the off-street car parking charges in the town and for extra information on the costs and figures of the park and ride bus service.