TENBY2020 held its annual general meeting last week, with Chris Osborne in the chair and 26 other members present.

The area youth co-ordinator for South Pembrokeshire, David Walker, was guest speaker. He had been appointed last year, following a critical review of the youth service, in which it had been said that the service had not kept up with recent developments elsewhere in Wales and the UK.

There was a need for youth provision to have an educational purpose as well as a recreational one, it had to be participative, it had to empower young people, it had to be expressive, and it had to provide facilities that young people wanted.

Since taking on the co-ordinator's role, he had been able to appoint a full-time youth worker, Anthony Harris, and there were now six part-time staff. The Youth Club building was to be refurbished in the next few months. However, they plan to move away from the present provision of 'a couple of nights a week' in a building, and to try to provide a service where young people congregated, and to provide more for the top of their age range (11-25).

In the discussion that followed, he acknowledged that they had to make the service more relevant, work more closely with other voluntary youth organisations, and publicise what they do better.

He was warmly thanked for his talk, and stayed for the following item on the Skateboard Park proposal before leaving the meeting.

The chair reported that some progress was being made on the issue of a Skateboard Park. There had been a meeting recently with Emma Heard, of Pembrokeshire County Council, with representatives of the Town Council and Tenby Rotary also attending.

The county council had agreed to release a site on The Salterns, and were also willing to provide £5K, providing it was match-funded and there was a local committee of young people and supporters willing to take responsibility for the proposal. A meeting had been called to take the proposal forward.

In answer to a question about the apparent failure of the scheme at Saundersfoot, David Walker commented that it had been well-used by the children, but it had run into problems with neighbours because it was a noisy wooden structure. It was intended that it would be a concrete structure in Tenby.

The management committee tabled a report on activities over the last year, focusing particularly on the Objective One application, to employ an events co-ordinator and a De Valence manager. There was a lengthy discussion over the opposition to the proposal for a supermarket and business park at Twy Cross; there was some concern expressed about the opposition campaign being necessarily linked to their proposal for an extension of town centre retailing on the Francis Yard site, but the meeting accepted the position without a vote.

The officers were also asked about opposition to the Bluestone proposal, and the reasons for that opposition were explained. It was proposed that they withdraw their letter of objection, but the proposal was defeated by 12 votes to five.

The secretary tabled a proposal to form a Tenby Events Management Company, so as to further their Objective One bid – the Welsh European Funding Office required that they formed a company to hold funds and employ staff. That was agreed without amendment. It was also agreed that the first five directors should be the four officers of the association, plus Chris Sierwald.

The treasurer's report was circulated at the meeting, showing expenditure last year of just under £500, no income other than bank interest, and a balance at the end of the year of £830. The report was accepted without debate.

The officers who had held their posts for the last year were re-elected unopposed - chair Chris Osborne, vice-chair Jim Fleming, treasurer Christine Brown, and secretary Mike Thorne.

Richard Walker asked about the position on pedestrianisation, and the secretary informed the meeting that the county council had been asked by TENBY2020 to hold a public inquiry before proceeding to a permanent scheme.

It was agreed that the town council and the Library be asked to keep minutes of TENBY2020 meetings, to allow better dissemination.

The date of the next AGM was fixed as the first Thursday in November, 2004, with the next open meeting being in three or four months time.