Members of a group trying to fight a planning proposal which would see the construction of 144 new homes on greenfield land north of the centre of Tenby have reiterated their concerns over the development.

Details of a further outline application submitted by Pembrokeshire County Council with all matters reserved for 102 affordable residential units, 8 shared ownership residential units and 34 open market residential units together with associated access, drainage and landscaping, on land at Brynhir were discussed by members of Tenby town council at their meeting last month.

Members of the town council have previously given their backing to the proposals, stating that the development will bring much needed affordable housing provision for locals to the area.

The Tenby Greenspace Preservation Society who have this week taken out a full page advert in the Observer to warn local residents that the ‘beautiful fields of Brynhir’ are about to become a ‘concrete jungle’ unless the application is withdrawn by PCC or refused by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority when it comes before their planning committee.

‘There are many places in Pembrokeshire more suitable for development for social housing than this site which is difficult for a number of sound financial reasons, which is why no commercial developer was interested in taking it on,’ - states the wording in the advert urging locals to oppose the plans.

‘The council paid themselves £4 million for the land (which they already owned) to fix a black hole in their budget and now they want to spend millions more in developing this site for no good reason.’ - they claim.

‘They are happy to spend millions of our money digging up trees and ancient hedgerows, contributing to the congestion and road safety issues on the Narberth Road.

‘If you agree with us that this should stop here, now is the critical time to stop this. Please join our local voices in demanding that the Pembrokeshire County Council withdraw this application and if they won’t, to demand that the National Park turns it down to protect our lovely town from the ravages of overdevelopment.’ - adds the advert.

Correspondence from Jane Merrony on behalf of the Tenby Greenspace Preservation Society also came before members of Tenby town council at their meeting on Tuesday night.

“We feel that the costs involved to bring the site to development are substantial, and potentially non-viable, and that the promise of 102 affordable homes will be a much lower number as more residential houses will be required to recoup the spend,” she stated.

“Reports show ONE foul/sewage water outlet for 144 houses with (a calculated 4,000 litres per day per household) over 500,000 litres exiting a day; this cannot be sufficient.

“Surface water has to be collected and to the south of the site, with one storage tank - over?ow will most likely be towards the cemetery and below, and with no solution to the access road on the A478, which is already constantly wet with surface water.

“There is low water pressure already in Upper Hill Park and the surrounding areas - none of this with any consultation from Welsh Water in the reports on the application?”

Mrs. Merrony went onto state that access to the proposed new housing site would need a right turn on the A478 or a roundabout.

“As the road narrows here and vision is poor. 30 per cent of accidents in the area have been due to wet surface. Congestion will happen - no matter what figures they try to set out. Not to mention the hedgerows and trees which are protected, habitats etc,” she continued.

“I am sure the town council are well aware of all of these facts, but we do feel that to lose a whole green?eld site, which is such an important amenity for the community and the climate crisis, on a promise of affordable homes which cannot make for a viable development and that both adopted LDP (local development plan) and new LDP2 states there is no requirement for more residential houses, would be a substantial and significant loss to our town,” she added.

Tenby town councillor Clr. Laurence Blackhall recently said that the outline plans were still very much a ‘work in progress’ he felt, but stated that he didn’t think that a full planning application from PCC for the scheme was too far away.

He called for a full public consultation to be held so that those for and against could view the plans fully and have their say.

The town clerk Mr. Andrew Davies told councillors at Tuesday night’s meeting that PCC had not come back to him on a date for a potential meeting to further discuss the outline proposals, with Clr. Blackhall further asking if Tenby’s county councillors could carry the proposal for a meeting to take place forward with the county council leader.

The outline proposals are due to be discussed at a meeting of PCNPA's development management committee on March 18 with the recommendation from the planing case officer that the application be delegated to the chief executive/director of planning to grant planning permission subject to acceptable appropriate assessment and conditions set out.