Local councillors are considering enlisting the help of Welsh Assembly Members in an attempt to tackle unauthorised ‘street trading’ in Tenby.

The town clerk recently told members of Tenby Town Council that it was a problem they’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 had to be put in place to introduce a bye-law banning all ‘service providers’ (street traders).

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, Clr. Mrs. Caroline Thomas suggested that asking the local AMs to help could get things moving.

She also suggested that continuing to liaise with Cornwall council’s enforcement team, who have encountered similar problems in St. Ives and Padstow, would be useful.

The Mayor, Clr. Laurence Blackhall, said that identifying other towns in Wales that may be tackling similar issues and writing to them would be worthwhile, along with approaching the Welsh Assembly Government.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown said that she had been approached in the street by two people who understood the difficulties the council had with street traders, and suggested that those concerned could be reported to HM Revenue and Customs to see if the traders were paying their taxes as they were employing people.

“I thought that this was a worthwhile point,” she said.