Local councillors are to investigate setting up a bye-law in an attempt to tackle unauthorised ‘street trading’ in Tenby.

The town council have had a longstanding battle to try and remove ‘service providers’ from the streets of the town, but have seen an increase in the town this summer, particularly in Tudor Square, where the town is pedestrianised during the day.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council. Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown claimed that the most complaints received at their offices over the summer were from locals and holidaymakers regarding this issue.

“We have a beautiful town centre that is looked after well, but marred by these traders,” she said.

“Pembrokeshire County Council, the police and ourselves have tried to remove them from the town, but there seems to be no way to stop them,” she continued, suggesting that the only way to combat the issue might be to look into introducing a bye-law banning all street traders.

“It would be an expensive move, but we cannot go through another summer in Tenby like this one on our streets,” continued Clr. Mrs. Brown.

“The holidaymakers that come into our office to complain are astounded that we can’t do anything to stop it.”

A spokesperson for Pembrokeshire county council recently admitted that there was difficulty in removing stalls in Tudor Square, as some stalls - such as tattooists - fall outside street trading legislation, as they are not selling, and are therefore deemed to be service providers and not street traders.

“We are aware of the historic issue with the service providers in Tenby and are therefore liaising with our own legal team and the police to find a long-term solution,” they added.

The Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall said that many have asked why the local Authority cannot do what Cornwall Council’s enforcement team have done in trying to tackle similar issues in St Ives.

“We rang their council and they do have problems too still, so it’s not a problem that has been resolved elsewhere,” he remarked.

The town clerk Andrew Davies told members that it was a problem he’d been trying to resolve for the past 13 years in the town, and that he was now considering asking Mark Elliott, Head of Public Protection at PCC, to liaise with their legal department to see what process has to be put in place to introduce a bye-law.

Councillors unanimously agreed in favour of this proposal. “It is a very challenging thing, but there is a will to do something about it,” added Clr. Blackhall.