Residents of an area in Tenby where the county council plan to establish a new Welsh medium combined Infant and Junior School have said they are being kept in the dark over the proposals.

The authority plan to replace Tenby VC Infant School and Tenby Junior Community School in Heywood Lane, with an English medium primary school and a Welsh medium primary school, and implement the closures by August 2016, with the new schools which will serve a catchment area of the two existing schools, opened on September 1, 2016.

Following an announcement last week that the county council's cabinet had decided to relocate Tenby's library to the proposed new schools site in Heywood Lane, Tenby Town Council, who discussed that matter at their most recent meeting, called for urgent talks with director of education, Jake Morgan, with the consultation on the proposals due to finish on July 14.

Plans to relocate Tenby Library to the new Welsh and English primary schools site on Heywood Lane, were questioned by a local councillor during discussions last week.

Speaking at a meeting of Tenby Town Council, Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter said she was disappointed that the town council had not been consulted on plans for the library to be relocated to that area and questioned the move, as she felt it would bring more traffic problems to that area of the town.

She also remarked that she was disappointed that the town council had not been kept 'in the loop' on the new schools development.

Meanwhile, in a letter to the Observer this week, a resident of Serpentine Road, who wished to remain anonymous, said that householders in that area were very concerned after reading a public notice which appeared in the paper last month from the county council regarding the closure of the schools and the building of a brand new combined school on the playing field, as they had not been consulted.

"The proposed new schools are in the planning stages despite no consultation taking place with the wider public and the property owners of the adjoining land," said the resident.

"I point out here that I am a home owner on Serpentine Road - it is news to me and my neighbours.

"The land identified for all this development is an Important Open Green Space. It is listed as such on the Local Development Plans both past and present.

"We have only until July 14, to respond to this notice -which I have now done with a formal objection.

"In addition and although not mentioned in the notice there has been a decision made by the county council to include on the same site the building of a new combined public and school library facility with additional space for computers and a 'Health Hub'.

"The town council have no drawings for the proposal and, although I now discover they have been consulted about the development, they have not been consulted about the most recent plans and timescale and seem unclear about the exact nature of the proposals," continued the letter.

"The county council has spent a good degree of time in the local press congratulating itself over the extensive consultation it has undertaken with regards to the move of the Tenby library to the playing field on Heywood Lane - it has not.

"Consultation was only undertaken with the users and the Tenby community with regard to the proposed move to Tenby Leisure Centre. The decision to move to the proposed new school site has taken place with no consultation," the resident stated.

"How can residents make an informed decision about the development when there are no plans available, no particular person made visible or available to enquire about the plans and only the most sketchy reference made to the development at all in tiny print in the form of a public notice.

"This whole thing seems not to have been thought through. The bulk of our community facilities, in terms of adult education, youth services, library, computers etc, will no longer be easily accessible on foot and under one roof, but scattered around the outskirts of the town.

"This may provide the county council with an easy way of fulfilling their obligation to the Welsh Assembly and the 21st Century Schools programme, but it is not fulfilling its obligation to the whole community and definitely not in terms of open consultation," they added, asking for anyone with concerns to write and make their representations by July 14 to the director for children and schools and head of cultural services at County Hall in Haverfordwest.

Responding to the concerns raised by the town council and residents in the area, a spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council said:

"The county council does intend to meet with the town council shortly in order to discuss the matters that have been raised.

"As regards to the library, Tenby Town Council will be aware that a month-long public consultation took place over the future provision of the library services in Tenby.

"The decision to locate the library at Heywood Lane arose as a direct result of that consultation exercise in which members of the public were asked to suggest alternative sites for the facility," they added.