Plans to earmark land at New Hedges as suitable for the development of a supermarket have come under a barrage of fire this week.
The proposal, included in Pembrokeshire County Council and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority's joint unitary development plan for Pembrokeshire (JUDP), identifies nearly 24 hectares of land at New Hedges for a business park which would include a supermarket, car park and park and ride facility to serve the needs of south-eastern Pembrokeshire.
However, the idea was slammed by members of Tenby Town Council on Tuesday night as a threat on the future livelihood of the town.
"The siting of a supermarket at New Hedges will virtually kill off Tenby," said the Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown. "Businesses in the town have enough trouble surviving in the shoulder and off-season as it is.
"This idea will not only be damaging to Tenby, however; it will also kill off Saundersfoot as well.
"Most of us use small local shops because we know if they are not supported they will not survive, but a supermarket in New Hedges would be catastrophic for the town."
The JUDP, debated by the National Park Authority at their meeting on Wednesday morning, prior to it being put on deposit for consultation in the spring, also includes an amendment to Tenby's town centre boundaries to exclude Francis Yard and The Norton, which also came under attack.
"Doing this excludes areas identified in the existing boundaries of the town centre and makes it considerably smaller," Clr. Mrs. Brown pointed out.
"The Tenby 2020 and SPARC action plan for the town identifies several ideas, including a supermarket, within the existing boundaries. If this goes ahead, does it mean that these will no longer happen?" she asked.
Clr. Mrs. Brown revealed that, after consulting with fellow councillors, she had written to the National Park condemning the proposals.
Mr. Mike Thorne, chairman of 2020, had also written in similar vein.
Clr. Mickey Folland admitted that he, too, was concerned about the proposal and felt that, due to the implications, a 'very urgent' meeting with the National Park was needed.
"We need to know their reasons for changing the boundaries of the town centre," he commented. "If we don't know the implications of this, how are we expected to support it?"
Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas wondered how the proposal could be put forward without consultation with the town council.
"Who are they to identify that there is a need for out of town shopping in this area?" she asked.
"We all know that out of town shopping is not good for small towns such as ours.
"Why were we not consulted on the boundary change? Is this a direct attempt to scupper the plans of Tenby 2020.
"They have put some amazing plans forward for the Francis Yard area and this will totally destroy everything they, and the people of Tenby in supporting their plans, have identified as right for the town.
"We need an immediate meeting to get what the people of Tenby want, not what the National Park want to impose upon us."
Clr. Mrs. Brown commented that if Mr. Thorne had not seen a copy of the National Park agenda in the library, it would have been unlikely that the town council would have known about the proposal until it had been confirmed at National Park.
"He had the foresight to inform me on Monday," she explained.
Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter was also concerned about the lack of consultation.
"We should have been consulted on this before it ever got this far," she opined.
Clr. Andrew Rees noted that the JUDP policy included conditions preventing any supermarket from including certain facilities like a pharmacy, dry cleaners, post office, photographic development facility and automated telling machines to 'protect the vitality and viability of Tenby town centre'.
"However, while they can impose these conditions, will they still be valid in five years time?" he asked. "Most large supermarkets I know have most of these facilities, they tend to insinuate them over time.
"We even have an example of it at Somerfield in the town. When they opened, they were not going to be a newsagent, but now the first thing you see going through the door are papers and magazines!
"This is a very dangerous proposal and I am very upset that the National Park have not even considered asking us about it.
"They say it will be of benefit to Tenby, but if that is the case, why didn't they tell us about it?"
Members agreed to a suggestion by Clr. Folland that the National Park be sent an urgent fax calling on them to defer their decision for a meeting to be held between them, Tenby Town Council, Saundersfoot and St. Mary Out Liberty Community Councils and Tenby 2020.
In his letter to Mr. Nic Wheeler, of the National Park, Mr. Thorne felt that the New Hedges proposal was "a radical change" to the Park's two-year-old Local Plan and ran counter to 2020's action plan, which the Park had supported.
He felt that deleting Francis Yard "added insult to injury" and would "discourage the attempts being made by the property owners to assemble the site and bring forward appropriate development."
He noted that the Park report had acknowledged that Francis Yard had originally been given consideration for retail development, but wondered what the "constraints to such a development which are unlikely to be overcome" as identified by park officers, were.
"Clearly that information is of some importance," he commented.
"A supermarket in New Hedges would lead to a loss of shops in Tenby, thereby diminishing its attractiveness to tourists," Mr. Thorne wrote. "The consequential loss in private investment in Tenby town centre would threaten the quality of the built environment. Tenby could then suffer a spiral of economic and environmental decline.
"I urge you and your members to reconsider. It would be a matter of some regret for this organisation (2020) to strongly oppose your authority, but if it persists with this, we will do!" he concluded.
PLAN DEFERRED
Due to the length of the agenda at Wednesday morning's meeting of the Park's policy committee, members felt that not enough time was available to give due consideration to the JUDP and all its implications for the county.
As a result they agreed to defer any consideration, for a special workshop session for members to be held in January.
They would then hold an extraordinary meeting before adopting the draft for wider consultation.