Plans to demolish Tenby’s former Royal Mail delivery office building and replace it with residential and retail units look set to be given the go-ahead, despite concerns from local councillors over a lack of affordable housing being included within the development.

The application submitted by Trillium (RMF) Ltd to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority seeks consent for the demolition of the existing structures within the former post office site on Warren Street/Deer Park and the construction of two new buildings to accommodate 34 residential units incorporating ground floor retail units on the site.

The building has been empty since Royal Mail relocated their delivery operations in Tenby to a purpose-built delivery office in Narberth back in 2019; whilst the Post Office store also moved in 2020 to a new premises on South Parade.

Tenby Town Council has recommended refusal to PCNPA due to lack of affordable housing provision, massing of the site due to its proximity to the Conservation Area, two listed Churches and the historical Town Walls, as well as inadequate parking provision.

Tenby Civic Society has also raised concerns on a lack of affordable housing, as well as design, scale, and the visual impact on surrounding sites.

Six letters of objection have been received by PCNPA, with concerns relating to the following: Over-development of the site; lack of affordable housing and parking provision; access to the site and highway safety; excessive height to the mews building creating amenity issues to neighbours; loss of privacy from proposed fenestration and roof top terrace; capacity of local sewage network.

Since consultation began back in 2021 on a pre-planning application, councillors in Tenby have continuously expressed their concerns over a lack of affordable housing provision included in the plans, with Cllr Laurence Blackhall reiterating this stance again at the Town Council’s most recent meeting in February, stating: “The portion of affordable housing isn’t included as expected, which is nowhere near acceptable.

“I hope that the plans will be rejected, and this application thrown out.

“It adds nothing to the town or does anything to solve the current housing crisis,” he added, with his fellow councillors in favour of rejecting the proposals.

In a report that is set to go before PCNPA’s development management committee to determine the application on March 8, planning case officer Andrew Richards addressed concerns on the affordable housing issues, stating: “A detailed viability assessment in line with the Affordable Housing SPG has been submitted and independently assessed and verified.

“The conclusion of the assessment indicated that there was limited viability on this site and that five units would be the limit that could be provided without the development becoming unviable. The authority has indicated that of the five units indicated, four units will need to be Social Rented controlled by a registered social landlord and one unit will be Low-Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) secured in perpetuity via a legal agreement which will meet the requirements as set out under Policies 2 and 48.”

Mr Richards’ report goes on to state that the demolition of the existing low level late 20th century industrial utilitarianism style building and its proposed replacement with a much taller building, in a 19th century style reminiscent of buildings on High Street but not in the South Parade area would have a ‘positive effect’ on the setting of the historical Town Walls nearby.

However, Cadw (the Welsh Government's service working for a well-protected historic environment for Wales) has disagreed with this conclusion and even though it considers that the removal of Post Office buildings will improve the setting of the Town Walls, it states that the bulk of the proposed building will ‘overshadow’ the Town Walls and its height will block views from them, which are currently open above the existing building, with these changes having an adverse effect.

Cadw notes however, that the proposed building has been designed so that it does not block existing views to the Town Walls and whilst there will be a few viewpoints where the proposed building and the Town Walls will be seen together, in these views the proposed building is set back from the town walls.

As such, Cadw consider that the proposed building will slightly increase the impact of modern buildings on the setting of the scheduled monument compared to the present situation. However, this change will not be significant they state, and therefore no objections are raised on the current proposal.

In the case officer’s recommendation to the development management committee, to delegate the application to the Chief Executive/Director of Planning for approval, Mr Richards states that consent may be granted upon receipt of a completed legal agreement to cover the affordable housing delivery, and subject to a number of conditions set out.

“If no completed legal agreement is received within 3 months officers would request that delegation is also given to allow refusal of the application due to a lack of mechanism of securing affordable housing in accordance with Policy 48 of LDP2,” he added.