Sir, I was dismayed to read that Tenby Council had agreed to allow vehicles to park in an allegedly, non-parking area of South Parade, namely 16 metres either side of the Catholic Church entrance. Not only will this decision increase the current bottleneck, especially opposite Five Arches, but will also result in even more cars blocking the entrance into the St. Teilo's Church car park. And create a blind side to the right of the church when leaving the car park. Very often parishioners arrive by car to find that access is barred to the church car park, due to cars parking illegally halfway across the gates. Having had the gates widened for easier access, the problem of cars blocking the entrance, or parked across the white line in front of the gates still occurs. It is very important to have good access and exit to the church car park as the parish priest can be called out to deal with an emergency sick call. South Parade already has a regular flow of holiday coaches and delivery lorries, some of which have to park opposite the Catholic Church in order to make deliveries. Thus, to narrow the road further, particularly opposite Five Arches, will create a bigger bottleneck. As it appears there was a 50-50 split, perhaps the council would have been wiser to put the matter back for further consultation and evaluation. At present, there is no real supervision of illegal car parking, except for the odd purge or two. What guarantee can the council give to ensure that the problem will be better supervised. Why not consider building a multi-storey car park at the Salterns, which could probably treble parking space, not to mention increase revenue for the town. How about a re-think councillors!
Michael Doyle, Bracken Lea, Penally.