Sir,
Today, the cliff front above Tenby's North Beach is a sight for sore eyes, very sore eyes. Many thousands of pounds has recently been spent on what now appears to be a very weedy, rat infested site, the rats being delighted to snug down under the warm netting covering the cliff. Every tree and sapling has been destroyed and the picture on the front page of this newspaper shows what is happening now.
What seems to be forgotten is that this cliff was the town's refuse dump for hundreds of years, the whole area from Tenby harbour to Amroth being of loose shale. Bolting the cliff together with long iron rods does not seem to be the job when the photograph is studied.
Authority, seemingly, has a mania for tree cutting since the early '50s, when many trees were cut down, much to the distress of local inhabitants. What happened soon after was a serious cliff fall, causing the tragic loss of two young people who were entombed in one of the North Cliff shelters.
The tree roots bind the unstable soil together, and when the heavy rains come, the excess moisture is evaporated through the tree foliage. Now that there are no trees, the consequences must be suffered. The trees should have been left as they were, or suitably pruned. Taking the advice of my good friend, the late Mr. Gwyn Williams, who was Tenby's head gardener for some 45 years, the cliff should have been planted with evergreen flowering shrubs, such as Veronica (old name Hebe), Escolonia, Sennecio, and Gorse. What a glorious sight that would be today! As it is, it will take a very clever body to now save the cliff.
G. R. Hughes,
Warren Street, Tenby,