Plans for Santa to bring some festive cheer to children living at a local hostel have been stalled because of red tape.

Chairman of Pembroke North Residents Association, Jim Clague, thought it would bring a smile to the faces of the children if Father Christmas visited them to hand out presents left over from the group's Yuletide party.

However, he has been told by Pembrokeshire County Council that this is not possible because of a Welsh Assembly directive stating that Father Christmas would need to be have a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, but there is no time to go through the process.

"All we want to do is to take Santa to the hostel in his sleigh and let him hand out the presents to the children," said Jim, who added that the presents had been donated by Costcutter at Bush Hill, Pembroke.

"We thought it would make their day and bring a smile to their faces. We cannot even take him to the hostel and let him wave to the children through the window and hand the presents to the staff ourselves. The world has gone mad."

When contacted by the Observer, a spokeswoman for Pembrokeshire County Council said that the view strongly expressed to the council by officials of the Welsh Government was that such one-off volunteers should be fully vetted.

"Unfortunately this matter was only raised with the council on Wednesday, December 7, and may therefore require schools and other organisations to make alternative arrangements in respect of their Christmas activities."

However, there was a helping of Christmas cheer for Jim when he received a call from the council informing him that they had a Father Christmas volunteer who was willing to give out the presents on the association's behalf.

"That was fantastic news and meant the children would not miss out," said Jim.