This year’s Summer Spectacular events in Tenby are officially cancelled...

Tenby Round Table announced the provisional cancellation of the fundraising events due to be held on August 16 and 30, due to an ongoing access dispute - with the charity organisation firmly laying the blame at the door of Pembrokeshire County Council, who had failed to address the matter, despite the charity organisation contacting the Local Authority some 9 months ago to try and sort any issues out.

Somewhat of a stand-off then ensued, with Tenby Round Table giving Pembrokeshire Council a final deadline of June 25 to provide a ‘clear, accurate, and legally grounded answer’

However, PCC didn’t. All they did was issue a statement to the press which was shared to their social media accounts. By all accounts PCC didn’t even contact Tenby Round Tablers directly over the matter.

In response, Pembrokeshire County Council Deputy Leader, Cllr Paul Miller, remarked: “Pembrokeshire County Council supports the Spectacular as we have for nearly 15 years.

“The Council has not requested or given direction that the event should be cancelled.

“The Spectacular is a much-loved event with significant number of attendees. As a result, we have an important duty to make sure the event can take place safely to address the concerns formally raised by the Responsible Authorities under the licensing act, which include the blue light services.

“Tenby Harbour is a working harbour and a key community asset - and just as every year this event needs to be licensed, and the organisers need to provide important information on how they plan to safely manage the event.

“As a council, we very much want this event to go ahead but we have to make sure the event is safe for the public, with the right safety measures in place.

“Once the organisers provide the required information, the licensing sub committee (currently scheduled for July) will consider the event application, in exactly the same way they consider the large number of other events which occur across Pembrokeshire each year.”

County councillor for Tenby’s South Ward, Cllr Sam Skyrme-Blackhall, even made drew assumptions that the events would eventually be given the green light to go-ahead, stating:“I am really encouraged from meetings that I have had with senior officers that everyone is ready to do all that they can to enable these events to go ahead.”

Then Tenby Round Table gave an important update on June 27, officially calling off this year’s events, which draw thousands to the seaside town, and in turn, raise thousands for local worthy causes, labelling the announcement as “the post we didn’t want to write”

They stated: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we want to be clear with you about why. Meeting about this years events started in September of 2025.

“Since late May, we have been asking Pembrokeshire County Council one very specific question: which legal power will it use to allow us to temporarily restrict pedestrian access through the licensed event area to ensure the safety of those attending?

“This isn't a bureaucratic obstacle, it's the foundation of safe crowd management for an increasingly popular event in Tenby Harbour, which is a desire of both Tenby Round Table and the emergency services.

“Without a clear, lawful mechanism to control who enters the event area and when, we can no longer safely run an event of this scale in that space. We have had three written responses. None has answered the question with a clear legal foundation.

“The first two told us that a specific road traffic power could not be used to restrict pedestrian access to a public beach, but neither response identified the part of the law that prevents it, and the explanation given didn't match what the law actually says.

“The third response, received on 25 June, stepped back from road traffic powers entirely and reviewed a set of historic harbour documents instead. Its conclusion was that the Council has no power to restrict access to the beach.

“We are not lawyers. We are a group of volunteers, giving up our own time to run these events for Tenby in the safest way possible. We may be missing something. But we have asked the Council to point us to the specific legal provision that prevents this, and it has not done so.

“The Council has instead proposed two alternatives. The first is that we manage public pedestrian access to the beach ourselves, within an agreed capacity figure (which we have not been given), during event hours. The second is that we redraw the event boundary to exclude a direct beach access route.

“Neither option works. The first places on a volunteer organisation the responsibility to control access to a public beach without any legal mechanism to do so. The second would require substantial fencing along the entire access route through the centre of the event - fencing that would block emergency vehicle access to the area. Fencing which by its existence would also create a safety risk for those attending which we are not willing to accept.

“Last year, the Council used a road traffic power to close a pedestrian route to a public beach in Tenby during Ironman Wales. We are not criticising that decision. But we have not been provided a clear answer why the same approach cannot be considered for the Summer Spectacular.

“We may be wrong to draw that comparison, but without being told why, we cannot simply set it aside. The previous open access arrangement has been, correctly in our view, highlighted as unsatisfactory by the emergency services as it could result in overcrowding in the harbour, with all the risks that brings.

“This has been one of the core reasons our licence has been called into review for the first time since it was granted 14 years ago.

“The reason we have been attempting to work with PCC is so we can bring a satisfactory arrangement before the sub-committee when they meet in July. Time has run out for 2026.

“Even if answers arrived tomorrow, the planning required to run these events safely cannot be completed before August, especially with the above framework we have been given by PCC.”

The Round Table went onto state that they have notified PCC of the decision, and the authority has offered to engage in further conversations to help plan a robust event management plan for 2027.

“We are not walking away from the Summer Spectacular. We are continuing to engage with the licensing process to get the right framework in place for 2027, and we are exploring whether the Welsh Government may be able to use its own powers to help provide the access management solution we need to run a safe and compliant event,” continued Tenby Round Table.

“These volunteer run events exist to raise money for local charities and to bring this community together. They have done that for the best part of 40 years. That hasn't changed. We will do everything we can to make sure they continue in the future.

“However, for the first time in a long time, it is with huge sadness and heartfelt regret that we formally announce the cancellation of the 2026 Summer Spectaculars.”