Two major planning applications for Tenby are set to be discussed by members of the town council at a specially arranged meeting next week.

Councillors received plans from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority at their meeting on Tuesday night on proposals for a change of use of the fort on St. Catherine's Island to a visitor attraction, and also an application submitted by Pembrokeshire County Council to upgrade facilities in and around the town's multi-storey car park in Upper Park Road.

The town clerk, Mr. Andrew Davies, told members that the applications had been received in time for the meeting, but not in time to put on the agenda, and that one of the applications was so big that the National Park Authority had to send it on a disc.

"There's a lot of information to digest in these applications and the other issue is that members of the public won't be aware that we are discussing them tonight because they're not on the meeting's agenda," he explained.

Clr. Lawrence Blackhall said that he didn't feel the National Park allowed enough time for town and community councils to give proper consideration to plans, while his colleague, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown, said that it was "unacceptable" that the town council, as a consultee, was given only 14 days to respond to an application, as some councils only met monthly.

Mr. Davies told members that he had been notified by the National Park that the 14 days was a statutory period and that the authority had to adhere to these regulations.

Councillors agreed that both applications were too complex to consider at short notice and arranged a further evening meeting for next Tuesday to be held at the De Valence at 7.30 pm to discuss the planning proposals.