Digital signage on the entrance to Tenby has been criticised by local councillors for failing to provide notice of recent flood warnings.

Members of Tenby Town Council labelled the ‘variable-message signs’ (VMS) situated at Bell’s Corner and on Marsh Road, as ‘horrendous’ and a ‘waste of money’ when they were initially erected.

Pembrokeshire County Council said that the signage would be used to provide flood warnings for areas such as Gumfreston on the outskirts of Tenby, as well as give information on road closures for events such as Ironman Wales and the Long Course Weekend.

However, speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, Clr. Paul Rapi pointed out to his colleagues that when the signage was needed recently, it had proved to be a ‘damp squib’.

“At the start of last week when it rained a lot, there was not a single flash or warning on one of those signs to say that the Gumfreston area was flooded!” he explained.

“The flooding in that area was as bad as it has ever been, so what’s the point of the digital signage. Perhaps Pembrokeshire County Council should revert to the old sign by the side of the road,” he continued.

The town clerk told members that he’d checked with PCC on the matter, and it had been explained that there had been a fault with the VMS signs, where following a digital upgrade, the signage had failed to rest to its default setting to display flood warnings.

Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane joked that perhaps the signs had been overused, while Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown reiterated what her colleague Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter had said in recent weeks, that the signs that cost £80,000, were a waste of money.

“All that money spent on something that doesn’t work properly, shows that it could have been spent elsewhere in the town,” she remarked.