A former Mayor of Narberth and town councillor has expressed her ‘utter amazement’ at plans to demolish the town’s old school building.

In a letter to the Observer this week, Sue Rees, a leading light behind campaigns to save the town’s swimming pool and library, has now appealed to Pembrokeshire County Council to ‘give us a chance’ to show that a better alternative can be provided for the site.

Her letter follows here:

Sir,

I am utterly amazed at the recent announcement, that Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) are intending to demolish the entire site at Narberth Old School and make it into a temporary car park, until the development can move forward, without even giving the community a chance to prove they can provide a better alternative. I would urge PCC to reconsider this plan of action and the use that can be made of the site.

An alternative, viable, sustainable and achievable plan has been put forward, which has been endorsed by Narberth Town Council, Narberth Chamber of Trade and Narberth Future Forum, to make good use of the Victorian part on the building for the community and free the rest of the site for desperately needed parking. Despite this, PCC have seen fit to ignore this alternative and bully their way through.

It has been muted that affordable housing is desperately needed in Narberth and I feel sure that in a year or so, when all the fuss has died down, PCC will use this as an excuse to allow houses to be built over the entire site, thereby adding greater value and increasing the sale price. I would suggest that the affordable housing shortage could be better met, if the six large housing projects, all of which have some element of affordable housing and full or outline planning consent, were built. This could be further improved, if the housing projects that have been built, had their roads made up and those in the process of being built were completed.

There are plenty of parcels of land in Narberth, designated in the Local Development Plan for housing; we do not need to build houses on land desperately needed for parking, especially when every alternative place for parking has been exhausted. Narberth is a vibrant town and thank goodness for it, but everywhere I go, when I tell people where I come from, they say, ‘Oh I love Narberth, but the only trouble is the parking’.

It has been proposed that a Charitable Trust be set-up to take over the original Victorian part of the building, as an asset transfer or, on a favourable long-term lease, as agreed for the swimming pool and the library. The remaining part of the building could then be demolished and used to increase the capacity of the car park.

The existing car park beyond the height barrier, could then provide a long term parking facility, at a lesser rate, for people working in the town, thus providing PCC with a considerable increase in revenue, maybe as much as £50,000, from the site for the foreseeable future.

The Trust would apply for grant funding, to restore the building and develop it for the use of the community. It is proposed that the Narberth Library be re-sited there, enabling PCC to sell the redundant library building and release capital to fund the development of the car park. The building could also house a Tourist Information Centre and an IT Hub with free Wi-Fi, the town council offices, meeting rooms, small business incubator units and small pop-up shops.

An open walkway could be made through the centre of the building, from the car park, making a gateway to the town and enabling people to walk from the car park to the town, without having to walk on the roadway. The pop-up shops would be for rental periods of six months or less, to serve as a start-up opportunity for new enterprise to try out their ideas, before committing to a long-term project. They could open out onto the walkway and give the pop-up shops a high profile.

Small business incubator units are needed for visiting professional services to hold consultations, which could be hired on an hourly or daily basis as required. This is a much-needed facility that is not available in the town at the moment.

An open canopy could be built along the rear of the building and extend out as far as possible to make a covered area. This, for the most part, would form part of the car park but, when required, it could be used in conjunction with the walkway, to form part of open events such as Narberth Food Festival, the annual plant sale, Civic Week and an open market one day a week. It is envisaged that the roof of this structure would be covered with PV solar panels to reduce the cost of electricity.

With regard to the playground area, that could remain a fenced off area, as now used for parking. It could then be used, when not required for parking, as a ball park for the young people, if floodlighting were installed.

Jobs are every bit as important as houses and if Pembrokeshire is to survive and encourage business to come to the county to provide jobs, we need to look at the whole picture and not just bulldoze ideas through without any consideration for alternatives.

Welsh Assembly Government has stated that local authorities must consult with communities regarding any major building proposals and this should include the demolition of a site prior to building. Once the building is gone, there can be no consultation.

If Narberth had accepted previous PCC dictates, we would have no swimming pool and no library. I think the people of Narberth love the old school building and want to see it restored to its former glory as a focal point of the town.

I am sure that it is agreed, everyone wants the newer part of the school demolished as soon as possible and the land used for parking, but save the Victorian building, as it is part of the heritage of Narberth, even if CADW consider ‘it is just another Victorian school’.

The building may not be precious to the history of Wales, but is precious to the people of Narberth and the surrounding area who, for generations, went to school there. You will see it proudly portrayed on any Narberth literature, alongside the Town Hall and the Queen’s Hall, as an iconic part of the town.

It has been deeply saddening to see the way the building has been left for so long to rot and decay, but the hope has always remained, that in the end it would be saved.

Sue Rees,

Jesse Road,

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Narberth