Tenby is ‘not being negelected’

Following recent concerns raised by Tenby Town Council over the cleanliness of the town's streets and pavements, Pembrokeshire County Council's head of maintenance, Mr. Brian Maddocks, met with councillors on Tuesday evening to reassure them that the town was not being neglected. A letter from Tenby Walled Town Residents (TWTRA) also highlighted the problem of littering on the streets of the town. Mr. Maddocks explained that the partnership of the town council and county council working together on improving the town's gardens had been a major success that everyone was proud of. However, he did feel that the way refuse was collected in the town could be looked at, pointing to a procedure used in France where refuse was collected during the evening as well. He admitted that the roads' 'compact sweepers' had experienced mechanical problems in recent weeks, but that problem was being addressed. "We received lots of compliments during last summer and beyond as to how clean Tenby was looking, and I'm pretty confident that after we get over this hiccup, the town will be back up to scratch by Easter," Mr. Maddocks told councillors. "It is certainly untrue that we've decreased the town's street cleansing; there is more investment in seeing that the cleanliness of all areas of the streets, pavements and gardens is being improved all the time," he continued. The town clerk, Mr. Andrew Davies, pointed out that, to be fair, Mr. Maddocks and his team had always tackled anything they brought to his attention straightaway. Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter asked what would happen when the smoking ban in enclosed public places came into force on April 2, and whether it was a publican's responsibility to ensure that bins were provided for cigarette ends. Mr. Maddocks explained that it would be a problem the street cleaning team would closely monitor, as the concern would be that the town's famous cobbled streets would be covered in stub ends. "We have petrol engine machines that will suck up litter and work better than your normal claw grabbing devices," he added.