'Save Saundersfoot Coal Office' are aware there are supporters of the campaign who are unable to access Facebook and would like to ensure they are kept informed of events.

Lord Merthyr's gift of the Coal Office to the community: We cannot ignore that some members of the community believe the Coal Office was given to the village as a gift, but unfortunately we have not found any evidence of this. In our search for information we did discover that Lord Merthyr owned land in Australia [a 47.5 hectares reserve] which in 1938 he announced he was giving as a gift to the Municipality of Lilydale for the use of the public. However, it was only in 1946, eight years later, that he actually transferred legal ownership. Possibly a similar announcement may have been made regarding the Coal Office with no transfer of legal ownership actually taking place.

A point of view to consider is that if the property had been legally transferred as a gift to the village, over the decades, it would most probably have been under the custodial ownership and management of the County Council - the current owners. We would still be faced with the situation we are looking at now.

The campaign has been able to access the deeds and documents relating to the Coal Office. In 1947, Hean Castle Estates sold the property to A. B. Clements. A succession of legal transfers of ownership followed until December 16, 1965, when Narberth Rural Council [NRC] purchased the Coal Office from Bay Properties [Tenby] Limited, a company owned by George Torkington.

Why did Narberth Rural Council purchase 'The Barbeque' from George Torkington? By 1965, a series of proposed planning applications for the building had seen it the subject of three planning inquiries. In 1952, a previous owner of the property had applied to develop the site into 13 lock-up shops. Further plans later submitted by George Torkington included an ambitious proposal for a hotel scheme which included the whole of the site, including grass surrounds; an application for shops, café and bowling alley and finally in 1964 an application for a six-storey building consisting of six shops and 20 flats.

These final proposals met with strong opposition from local residents and resulted in the formation of Friends of Saundersfoot. For some time St. Issell's Parish Council had been urging the County Council to purchase the site at the centre of Saundersfoot's seafront in order to preserve the character of the harbour area.

The National Park Committee agreed in principle to the proposed development. NRC was strongly opposed. A six-storey building would have been 10 feet taller than the Cambrian Hotel. The Minister of Housing intervened before the local planning authority made a final decision on the matter. An inquiry lasting one-and-a-half days was held in the Regency Hall. The Government Inspector, Mr. W Orbell, concluded that the proposals should not be accepted in the form of the present application. It was however felt that a six-storey building, 53 feet in height would not be unacceptable.

A further application for a six-storey building consisting of three shops, a restaurant and 20 flats was submitted. Mr. Torkington threatened NRC with the costs of any inquiry that would result from their decision. He also stated he would require the council to purchase the property if the Minister's decision went against him. Purchase costs of between £40-90k were mentioned.

A sub-committee of National Park approved the application by a majority of one vote. NRC stood their ground and would not approve the plan. In an unusual turn of events, Mr. Torkington's solicitors claimed the land had become incapable of reasonably beneficial use in its present state. If permission could not be obtained for any development, they required the council to purchase the land.

At a special meeting, NRC took the decision to accept George Torkington's purchase order, having been assured, that an appeal scheduled to be heard, would be withdrawn. Under the order the purchase cost was determined by the District Valuer at £22k.

The chairman of NRC, Mr. Ben Williams, said: "I am sure the courage of Narberth Rural Council who, standing alone, accepted their duty in a responsible manner, will be recognised by future generations."

Footnote: When looking through editions of Tenby Observer, we noted there were a number of letters written in about the proposed development. One in particular, from Dr. T. R. Griffiths, one of the founders of Friends of Saundersfoot, is quite appropriate for today and the current dilemma. It is reproduced in this week's Observer.