With work underway on the multi-million pound mixed-use scheme at the site of the former Royal Gatehouse Hotel and other connected sites, Pembrokeshire County Council have said that it is their intention to keep the roads around the site open for the majority of the work, although there maybe a need to close White Lion Street on occasional times in the future.

Speaking during Tuesday night's meeting of the town council, town clerk, Mr. Andrew Davies, told members that work had begun on stripping out the Royal Playhouse cinema building, and that the work had to be protected with new hoardings erected around the site which had led to part of the footway being covered.

"Unfortunately, we've had at least six members of the public complain about the extent of the pavement that has been taken over by the hoardings, so I contacted the county council's streetcare manager, Marc Owen, who said that during discussions with the contractor, regarding traffic management, it became apparent that some restrictions would be necessary along White Lion Street," said Mr. Davies.

Mr. Owen explained that the initial thought was to close White Lion Street from the mini roundabout back to the junction with Upper Frog Street, but he did not accept that as a viable situation, and was insistent that White Lion Street remained open to ensure unrestricted movement of vehicles.

"There may be a need to close White Lion Street on occasional times in the future, to accommodate the construction, however, this has not been discussed as yet and I will ensure this is minimised and will keep you in the loop," wrote Mr, Owen in correspondence to the town council.

"The main issue we had to deal with is that the new building line is adjacent to the rear of the existing footway.

"It is therefore necessary to erect the hoarding along the footway, to ensure site safety zones are maintained, which will restrict access along the footway," continued Mr. Owen, adding that the closing of the footway was subject to the erection of warning signs and suggested diversion via St. Nicholas Lane for White Lion Street and utilising the pedestrian crossing on The Norton.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown said that it was sad that some people were complaining already and that they should be glad that progress was finally being made on work at the site.